New Beginning
by vampirepuppiez00
Summary: When Alice misinterprets a vision and the Cullens break up Edward and Bella, what will happen when Bella finds out she's pregnant? Nessie-centric, Nessie/Jacob, Nessie/Claire friendship. Post Twilight
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, I hope I don't totally fail at this. This is my first fanfic, but I hope I do okay. I've been reading fanfics for almost two years, and I finally decided to write my own. This story has been in my head for a while, so I deicded I just try it out. I hope you guys like it.**

Prologue

_Bella screamed, her shrieks increasing in volume within every second. She laid nude in a provocative position. "Please, do it faster!" she cried. "Please!" Regardless of the fact that it was blurry as could be, the situation was obvious. The only thing was that Edward was nowhere to be found. In fact, I couldn't see who was there. Because the only thing I couldn't see was... werewolf._

I blinked the vision from my eyes, shaking my head as if that would make it vanish that much faster.

"Alice? Are you okay?" Jasper asked as I hopped off his lap. I urgently looked at Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper, sitting on the couch. I was still shocked at what I had just seen.

"What did you see?" Rosalie asked.

"B- Bella," I stuttered, feeling like an idiot.

"Is someone after her?" Emmett asked, a playful glint in his eyes. "'Cause you know we can handle it."

I threw a pillow at him.

"No, stupid! She's cheating on Edward!" I said, a little too loud. We all looked around for any sign of Edward's presence in the house. "With a werewolf," I said, a little lower than before.

"Are you sure?" Jasper asked.

"Of course I'm sure! The question is what do we do? We can't tell Edward. I don't think I could handle seeing him depressed again."

They nodded in agreement.

"And to think I was gonna throw a party for her," I muttered, collapsing on the recliner.

Jasper's eyes lit up. "Wait! I have an idea!"

We all perked up and leaned in to listen.

"You know Edward would do anything to keep Bella safe. So, if we make him think we were too dangerous for her, he would leave just to keep her safe."

I smiled. "You know, that's not bad."

We put the amazing plan into affect the night of her birthday. And, let me just tell you, it went perfect.

**It gets much better, don't worry. I kinda rushed this part, but the rest will be awesome, I promise.**


	2. Chapter 2

**From now on, it'll be from either Bella or Nessie's POV only. I'll try to keep it mostly in Nessie's POV. Plus I would like to thank my awesome reviewers! I didn't think anyone would actually read this, but they made my day that much better. So I will update super duper soon since I'm in such a good mood. :D Enjoy! (btw I just made up Nessie's growth rate. I don't remember what the actual one was, so bear with me.)**

BPOV

He never existed. Never existed... That's what he told me the day he left me. And every day since then I tried to convince myself that it was true. When I collapsed on the ground in tears, I told myself it was because it actually hurt when I fell. When I found out I was expecting a baby, I told myself I had somehow magically impregnated myself. When I found out I had to take a plane to Denali to plead help from a clan I had only heard of, I told myself that it was because I didn't want the hospital to call Charlie and tell him that I had impregnated myself. Then Charlie died, and I had run out of reasons. Apparently, being a cop in Forks _did _have its dangers, contrary to my belief.

But I had taken care of those dangers myself. I mean, I thought killing a vampire would be harder. And, after Laurent was dead, Victoria probably got the message, because I hadn't seen much of her.

When I missed my own father's funeral, I had a real reason. I had become a mother. Imagine how bipolar my emotions must've been: ecstatic that I had a beautiful baby girl in my arms, and depressed that my father had been killed. By a vampire. Which could have been avoided easily if a certain vampire were there with his certain vampire sister who could see the future and his strong vampire family. And that's what led me to think of that bastard for the first time in months.

The only thing in the world that could keep me from hating Edward Cullen was Renesmee Carlie Swan.

Of course, those were the darker days. The days I despised life before I realized I had a daughter who looked up to me, and a daughter I had to care for. To put things in simplest terms, after I had Renesmee, I stayed at the Denali's for a week or two, then returned to Forks. Upon finding out that Charlie left the house to me in his will, I gave Charlie's room to Renesmee and kept my own. Everything else in the house stayed _exactly_ the same. I refused to move anything due to the straying feeling in the back of my mind that this really wasn't my house. It didn't feel like my house at all.

I could've easily left Forks like I dreamed of doing since I came. But I felt terrible. Once again, I had left my father without a word to do something stupid. And came back to find him dead. Aren't I the Daughter of the Year? So, if I hadn't stayed, the guilt would've eaten me alive. It still is, but it makes me feel better to at least take something Charlie wanted me to have.

As for Renesmee, I couldn't ask for a better daughter. Incredibly intelligent, absurdly beautiful, and amazingly sweet. You can easily tell how perfect she is by my insane amount of adjectives I use when talking about her. She became my life. I valued her life more than my own. Hell, I valued her life more than the world itself.

Renesmee grew at a rate of four years to one, for some strange reason, and stayed frozen at sixteen. Our relationship was more sisterly than mother- daughterly. But even sisters have their secrets too...

Renesmee knew nothing about the Cullens. _Nothing_. Any sign of Edward Cullen had been removed from the premises. Birthday gifts, pictures... gone. Hehe, Edward who?

Of course, being a child with a single mother, she couldn't help but ask about him. I didn't blame her. But I didn't have the heart to tell her. What if she went looking for him one day? What if she were out one day and ran into him? The next thing I know, he'd be here, and I'd murder his ass for what he's done. So, she knew nothing that she didn't need to know. She knew I was a vampire, she knew she was part vampire, and she didn't need to know anything else.

I still saw Jacob. Frequently. Actually, whenever I could see him, I was at his house. Which was probably every day. Jake had become my best friend, but nothing more, to his disliking. And I really did love him, but something in my body told me that it wasn't right. Oh, and did I metion Nessie didn't know about him either? And he didn't know about her; he already didn't like Edward, and I didn't know how he'd feel if he found out that I had a daughter with him. Then his hormones started acting up and pretty soon he was bursting into a wolf. A big, huge wolf. Then he told me about his pack, and all that supernatural jazz.

Anyway, that's pretty much summing up what's been going on for the past four years. And I thought that would be my eternity. Living with my sixteen/ four year old vampire/ human daughter in my dead father's home, while frequently visiting my seventeen year old werewolf bestie.

And I think it's safe to say I spoke much too soon...

**Sorry if this chapter was boring, but I felt I at least needed to give the back story. From now on, the story will be from Nessie's POV, with maybe one or two chapters in Bella's POV. Oh, and I forgot to say that I do not own Twilight (duh).**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, I'm back! Okay, Claire will be in the story- what do you mean, Claire who? You know, "Pwetty wock, Qwil!" Ring a bell? Well, I tweaked a couple things. She is not two years old, but she is sixteen (cause I'm allowed to do that, hehe). Okay, on with it.**

**I totally own Twilight. (nose grows like Pinnochio)**

**No, I'm serious. (nose grows longer)**

**Crap. Never mind. **_**Stupid nose**_**.**

NPOV

My eyes fluttered open and I blinked a couple times, looking at the alarm clock flashing 6:38. I smiled to myself as I stretched.

My first day of school.

I had never been to school before; my growth rate moved too fast. I had been homeschooled all four years of my life. But finally, I was sixteen, and I was frozen there. So I would be a junior in high school, with other people! I'd really never interacted with other people before. And I had never had a real human experience. I had to beg Mom to go to let me go, and she finally resisted after arguing that it was completely unnecesary. And it was; despite the fact that I was four in reality, my mind was that of a sixteen year old. Mom taught me everything I needed to learn, and she didn't think I needed to go. But she reluctantly agreed, and signed me up to attend Forks High School. And today was the big day.

I was thankful that I spent last night trying on clothes instead of this morning. I was too eager to leave for school. I brushed my teeth and took a shower, quickly getting out and checking the time. I would have put on a little make-up, but I thought I looked fine without it.

I ran downstairs, where my mom was sitting on the couch, reading. "Morning Mom!" I greeted.

"Hey, Ness," she said, looking up. "You look gorgeous."

I blushed. "Thanks."

"You want me to drive me to school?"

"No, I don't want to take any chances. I heard having a cougar as a mom is hard on kids." I poked her on the arm.

She laughed. "Trust me, I won't flirt with anyone, Ness. You know that."

"I wasn't talking about _you_ flirting with _them_." I winked, and she wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled me on the couch with her as we both laughed. She kissed me on the cheek and hugged me close to her.

"Ness," she said in an uncommonly serious voice. "I want you to be careful. School's not as fun as you think. I just want you to know that there are mean people in the world, and there are dangerous people. So just keep a look out for anyone who you might think are dangerous. Don't talk to strangers, and-"

"Mom, we've had this talk three times. I know. I'm ready." She stared at me, then her face faded into a smile.

"Okay, Ness. I know you know the right thing to do. Have fun, and be good."

"Mom, I know, I know. How old do you think I am?"

"Four. So watch yourself, kiddo." She smiled and released me.

"Bye, Mom." I walked out the door quickly, before she could give me any more speeches I didn't need.

The drive to school felt so long, until I actually got there. My stomach flopped around as I got out of my rusty truck. I walked to the main hall, smiling warmly to everyone I passed and giggling at the wolf whistles. Everyone was staring at me, and I wasn't sure if I considered that a bad thing or not. But there were a lot of friendly people at the school; in fact, by first period, I had a group of people walking with me. I was glad that people liked me, but I knew it was because I was pretty. And I told myself that those were the ones not to make friends with.

My first class was Biology. I had two choices in seats; a pretty blonde girl, or a creepy looking emo kid. I obviously took the open seat next to the blonde.

"Hey," she said, smiling as she chewed a wad of bubblegum. "I'm Claire."

"Renesmee," I said, putting on my best smile. I decided I would try to make close friends of the people I would have to sit next to all year.

"That's a mouthful."

"You can call me Nessie; that's what everyone calls me." By everyone, I actually meant my mom.

"Like the Loch Ness Monster? I love it! I only wish I had a monster nickname too. Then we could match."

I thought for second. "How about Claire-bear?"

"Corny and cute; I like it."

"Okay, we can be the Loch Ness Monster and the Ferocious Claire-bear."

She grinned. "Awesome! I-" The bell's blaring ring cut her off.

"Dammit. I hate when the stupid bell interrupts me at the wrong time."

As the elderly teacher walked in and began writing on the board, Claire made a ringing noise and he perked up.

"Did anyone else hear that?" he asked in a raspy voice.

"It was your phone," Claire said. As he moved papers off his desk, looking for his phone, Claire nudged me under the table and showed me the glowing phone in her hand.

As he searched, Claire grabbed my hand and pulled me up, heading toward the door. She looked back at the class, then went and erased the board, replacing it with," FREE PERIOD TODAY." She put the phone back on his desk and gave a bow as people fist pumped and silently clapped for her. She spit the gum into her hand and stuck it on the board.

"C'mon, Ness, we have about an hour until we have to go back. Where do you wanna go?"

I could feel my heartbeat in my ears. "We're leaving? Don't we have to stay in class?"

"Of course we do. That doesn't mean we _will_."

"Won't someone tell?"

"Why do you think I wrote free period on the board? Scratch someone's back, and they'll scratch yours. They'll cover us. Besides, I've got special connections in there."

"But-"

"Ness, don't worry about it. I'll cover up for you if anything happens, which I know it won't."

"But what about the rest of the day?"

"You want an all day pass? 'Cause I can make that happen."

"No, I mean, won't the rest of his classes have free period too?"

"Never thought of that... consider them some lucky bastards, then. Now, are you coming or what?"

I sighed. I was so excited for my first day, and now I was leaving before I even had my first class. But I really liked Claire, so I went along with it. Besides, ditching class was part of being a teenager... right?


	4. Chapter 4

**I didn't originally have this chapter in mind, but I felt that Claire and Nessie's friendship should develop a little bit more before going into the main story. Enjoy!**

Claire finally got me to get in her car with her, but I was pretty resistant.

"Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know..."

"Not so ferocious of you, Ness. Real mosters know what they want."

I smiled a little, buckling my seatbelt. "What about your house?"

She bit her lip. "Pray that my mom's not there."

My eyes widened.

"Kidding! She's at work."

She poked my stomach and I giggled. She finally started driving.

"God, Ness, you make me feel so bad. I just wanted to hang out with you. You seem really cool."

It really felt good, hearing that. "Thanks."

"No problem. I just had to kidnap you for a while to make sure I'm right."

"Well, you got me. Prod away."

"Well, we're here. I'll have plenty of time to prod."

Her house was very homey. Ii smelled like fresh baked cookies when I walked in, and everything was nice and neat. I almost didn't want to touch anything, for fear that I would ruin something. Claire carelessly tossed her bag on the living room couch and walked upstairs. I followed behind, looking at various pictures of Claire and people who I assumed to be family members.

When we got to her room, I seriously had to wonder if we really were meant to be good friends.

Her room was white, with red accents all over; red bedspread, red lamp, red laptop, red nightstand, red roses. The same colors I always wanted my room to be.

"Oh my God! I've always wanted my room like this!"

"That's a sign, Ness. Sit," she said, belly flopping on her bed and patting the spot next to her. I brushed off my pants and sat as lightly as I could, not wanting t ruin anything.

"Loosen up, Ness! You don't have to be so dainty in here. Have some fun!" She stood and jumped on her bed, grabbing my hand and yanking me up. I jumped with her, getting into it and starting to have fun. We began to jump with such impact that a picture frame on Claire's nightstand fell to the ground. I jumped off the bed and picked it up, putting it back on the nightstand.

"Who's this?" I asked, eyeing the muscular, tan boy in the picture that Claire was hanging on.

"My boyfriend, Quil."

"Does he go to Forks High?"

"Naw, he goes to school on the reservation by La Push. I used to live there, but my mom made us move out here because I was spending too much time with him." She pulled a lollipop out from under her pillow and stuck it in her mouth.

"You had to move away because of your boyfriend?"

"It's... complicated."

"I can keep up..."

"Ness, it's wierd. You'll think I'm crazy, and I don't wanna chase you off already."

I laughed. "Seriously, Claire. I can handle wierd. I have some wierd stuff going on, too."

She stuck the lollipop back in her mouth and put her head down.

"Secret for a secret?" I poked her. She didn't respond.

"Okay, fine. I'll tell you mine, but you'll probably think I'm a freak. It's better to tell you now than to tell you once we're already awesome friends."

"We're not awesome friends already?"

"Okay, we are. But I'd rather chase you off now than later."

"I'm not talking about collecting comic books or somethings like that."

"Neither am I. It's more... supernatural."

Her eyes sparkled with curiosity as she crwaled right next to me and looked at me with her wide blue eyes.

"I'm... part vampire." I closed my eyes and waited for her reaction. To my surprise, she sighed in relief.

"Small world; my boyfriend is a werewolf!" She started laughing, and I gave a nervous giggle and my eyes darted around awkwardly. I wasn't really sure if she was laughing at me because she thought I was a psycho or not.

"No, Nessie. I'm completely serious. He's a wolf. Well, he can phase into a wolf."

I smiled. "Thank God, because I actually am half vampire."

She looked at me with wonder. "Wierd... I didn't know it was possible to be part vampire."

"Neither did my parents, but it was, wasn't it?"

"So, which one is the vampire? Your mom or dad?"

"Well, my mom was human and my dad was a vampire."

"Where are your fangs?" she asked, trying to pry my mouth open to look for them.

I laughed and pushed her off. "I don't have fangs."

She looked disappointed. "What kind of vampire doesn't have fangs?"

"I don't."

"Wow... I would love to meet your dad."

"So would I..."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know my dad. All I know is that my vampire half is from him. You can still meet my mom, though. She's a vampire now."

"Awesome. And, if it makes you feel better... I don't know my dad either." She took my hand and smiled at me. I smiled back sincerely and hugged her. Suddenly pulling us out of our Kodak Moment, she stood and started jumping on her bed again.

"We have five minutes before we have to start heading back, Ness. Let's make the most of it!"

I climbed up and jumped with her until our five minutes was up. Then we jumped back into her car and drove back to school, sneaking into the classroom. As soon as we sat back in out seats, the bell rang.

We smirked as the teacher looked at us with confused eyes. Then he threw a pill down his throat and shook his head. A guy with spiky hair walked up to us and touched Claire's fist with his own. "We got you covered." She looked at me and winked. I looked at my schedule, then compared with hers.

"We only have two more classes together!"

"Well that sucks!"

"Why don't you sleep over my house tonight?" Her eyes widened with fear.

"With a _vampire_?" she whispered, pulling me closer.

"Relax, Claire-bear," I said, using her new ridiculous nickname. "We drink animal blood."

"Wait, what?" The warning bell sounded, and students began to rush.

"Sleep over tonight, and I'll tell you everything. Deal?"

She sighed. "Deal." I gave her a quick hug and went to my next class, grinning ear to ear.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5! Whoooo! Okay, so the flashback is italicized, and it occured the day Nessie met Claire. The regular font is present time, about a week later. Its Friday.**

**I don't own Twilight!**

****It only took a week for me and Claire to know we were best friends. After all, we were both connected to the supernatural. I held up my side of the bargain and gave her all the vampire information I knew. And I didn't forget about the werewolf-boyfriend business, either.

_"Now that I've spilled, it's your turn."_

_She looked up at the TV and shoved a spoon of vanilla ice cream down her throat._

_"Will you stop watching Toy Story and look at me?"_

_"Who chose this movie, anyway? I mean, living toys are kinda creepy."_

_"Well, so are vampires and werewolves. And _you _chose this movie. So stop changing the subject."_

_"Isn't it funny that I have the white and red room and you're the vampire? You know, like pale skin and blood?" She laughed, as if that was the funniest joke known to the world. I just stared at her._

_"I mean, pink? Seriously, Ness?" she continued. I pushed her off my bed and we started laughing._

_"If you hate my room so much, why are you getting so comfy?"_

_"We should re-decorate in here. That would be fun!"_

_I though for a second. "You know, that's not such a bad idea..." She smirked and ate another spoon of ice cream._

_"Don't think you got out of this, Claire. If you just tell me, you're off the hook. I'll bother you all night if I have to."_

_"I'm actually not really supposed to say anything... I wasn't even supposed to tell you that Quil was a wolf."_

_"I wasn't supposed to tell you about my being a vampire, but I did, now didn't I?"_

_She sighed. "You know, Ness, I think it would be a lot easier to show you."_

_"Show me?" My head cocked to the side like a puppy._

_"Yeah!" Her face lightened up and she grabbed my hand. "Wanna come to a party with me Saturday?"_

_"A party?"_

_"Well, more like a... story telling kind of thing. Like, 'ancient legends'." She used air quotes. "Then you'll know everything. Plus, maybe I could hook you up with a hot werewolf." She winked suggestively at me._

_I pushed her playfully again. "Well, that sounds pretty cool. Are you sure I'll be allowed to go?"_

_"Sure, you will. Don't worry about it. Now, finish Toy Story with me."_

So here I was, asking my mom if I could go to my first party. I kinda left out the part about the werewolves, but you never know how a mother's reaction will be to partying with wolves.

"So, this party will be with Claire's friends?"

"Yes." I couldn't tell her it was at La Push; she would absolutely freak out. School was the farthest I'd ever been from home. So, if she asked, I'd bend the truth a little bit.

"There won't be any drugs or alcohol at this party, will there?"

"No, of course not, Mom."

"Good. You're only allowed to do that with me." She winked and went back to her book. I giggled and walked up the stairs, calling Claire immediately.

"Hello?"

"I can go!"

"That's what you called for? Ness, you're mom is awesome. I already knew she would say yes."

"I'll be at your house tomorrow morning, then."

"Aww, I thought we were gonna have more sleepover fun!"

"Even better! Come whenever you want."

"'Kay. See you, Ness!"

**Don't worry, the werewolves are in the next chapter. Thanks to everyone who read this. It feels amazing to know that people actually like this story.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello, dear readers! I'm baaaa-ack! I realize that I made a mistake; the bonfire has not happened, and Claire and Nessie still had another week of school before the party. And I'm super sorry; werewolves are postponed until next chapter. I confused myself and screwed up. I'm sorry! I hope this is good enough to get you to forgive me.**

"So... what kind of wolves are they? Like, really hairy guys, or like dogs?"

"Ness, I'm not telling you anything." I shifted uncomfortably in the seat of my (and Mom's) rusty truck as I waited for the red light to change. I hated when other people knew things I didn't. It made me feel very uneasy. It was something I had to deal with a lot with Mom, who always kept me from knowing things, but she claims it's to protect me. Claire's doing it for her amusement.

"Claire, I can't take it! Please, I can't wait until Saturday!"

"Too bad, Lochie." She knew calling me Lochie (like Loch in Loch Ness Moster) really irked me. I turned to glare at her, but she pushed my cheek toward the road again, saying, "Green light!" cheerily.

I pressed on the pedal with a little more impact than intended, and the car jerked forward. Claire's head bumped against the dashboard.

"Ouch! Dammit, Ness!"

"Sorry," I muttered, too irritated to mean it.

"Trying to kill me isn't going to get you any answers, now will it?" she said, smirking and pulling a red lollipop out of her bag.

I chewed at my lip. _Calm down, Ness. Three more days, and you'll have your answers_. It was only Wednesday, and a lot happened since the beginning of the week.

"Well, I won't tell you anything, but if you want me to cheer you up, we could talk about _Riiiileyyy_!" she said in a singsong voice, poking my stomach. I giggled.

"It's really not all that serious, Doodle." I developed the nick-name "Doodle" at our last sleepover (since Claire-bear was a mouthful) after she practically devoured the snickerdoodles Mom bought for us. Good times.

She stuck her lollipop in her mouth and turned away, trying to hide the quite obvious smug grin on her face. I pulled into the school parking lot and climbed out of the truck, slamming the door.

"Get out of my car," I said with mock anger. She giggled and sat still. "Nah, I think I'll stay here. That way you can sit next to your boy-toy." I punched her on the arm through the open window.

"I'm not getting out." She stuck her tongue (which had turned red from the lollipop) out at me and put the annoying candy back in her mouth. I grabbed the stick and yanked it from her mouth, running towards the building. I knew she had a serious sweet tooth, and she wouldn't be able to survive the day without it.

"Hey!" she shouted behind me, chasing me and grabbing it back. I locked the car door so she couldn't get back in and dragged her to our first period class. We sat down in our seats next to each other; he was sitting right behind us. As soon as I was in earshot, he greeted me with a sweet, "Hi, Renesmee!" and a wave. I smiled back and turned around. Even though I'm not really too sure how "we" happened, but whatever it was, it was only since Monday.

_"Ness. Psst. Ness!" Claire nudged my arm softly a couple times, then put more force into it. The pencil I had been writing with moved and left an ugly mark on my homework._

_"What?" I finally said with irritation._

_"Look behind you." I rolled my eyes and turned around. An adorable boy- actually, an absolutely gorgeous boy stared at me with beautiful- yet obvious- violet colored eyes. He gave me a friendly smile and I returned it, then went back to my work. Claire nudged me again._

_"Well?" she said, as if she were expecting me to say something._

_"What?"_

_"Isn't he adorable?"_

_"Yeah. So?"_

_"You want him?" My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion._

_"What?"_

_"Doooo yooouu waaant hiiim?" she said slowly, as if I were challenged._

_"Not really..." I said, and turned back to my paper. She groaned loudly, and the teacher woke from his sleep and eyed her._

_"Dispose of the candy, Claire."_

_She stood and reluctantly tossed the lollipop in the trash can. Then she sat down and pulled out a piece of gum from under the table._

_"Orbit?" she offered, holding the pack toward me._

_"No, thanks. I don't have a dirty mouth."_

_"That's the problem. With a hot guy like him, even Orbit wouldn't be able to keep your mouth clean."_

_"Don't be a perv, Doodle," I said, giggling. The bell finally rang and Claire grabbed my arm and ran right in front of the gorgeous guy, blocking his path._

_"Hi! I'm Claire, and this is Renesmee." He smiled widely, exposing a beatiful set of pearl white teeth._

_"I'm Riley. Nice to meet you." He held out his hand and we both took turns shaking it. It was nice and firm, but freezing cold. How more obvious could he get? Contacts, cold, white skin... I wanted to roll my eyes, but it would be rude._

_"Omigod! Riley and Renesmee! Double R's... adorable. Well, I've gotta get to class now, and I don't wanna throw the name thing off with my 'C', so I'll see you at the lunch table, Ness. You know, the lunch table by the big tree in the middle of the lunch area between the cheerleaders and the goths." She winked and flounced off, looking proud as can be. Leaving me alone with a cute guy and purposely telling me directions to our lunch table was something only Claire would do._

_"What's your next class?" he asked._

_"Trig."_

_He grinned. "Mine too. Wanna walk with me?"_

And the next thing you know, we were a couple. I wasn't sure if he knew I was part vampire, or if he knew that I knew he was full vampire. But I wasn't comfortable knowing that he could possibly be dangerous. But he didn't give any hints or warnings, though; I guess he had enough restraint. He tried to kiss me twice since we were together, but I stopped him both times. I didn't really even like him all that much, but he was a sweet guy, and I wasn't very good at giving bad news, so I didn't break up with him. He frequently called me to ask me random questions, and I answered in short answers: "fine", "okay", "yes", "no"... the usual one-sided conversation. I thought he was kind of nosy, inquiring about me so much after two days, but Claire said that Quil called her all the time and she loved it. But that was really because she loved him, and their freaky werewolf chemistry. Riley was cute and all, but there was no connection, nothing to give it that relationship feel.

I set my books on our lunch table and sat down. Claire and some of our other friends hadn't arrived yet, so I traced the patterns of the chipped table with a fingernail until someone put their hands in front of my eyes. I smiled and giggled.

"Claire, sit down. I know it's you." The hands moved and I turned to see Riley standing there. My face fell, but I plastered the smile back on my face to spare his feelings.

"Hi Renesmee," he said shyly. I gave him an awkward hug. He knew I wouldn't go further than that.

"Well, hello, lovebirds!" Claire said, smiling and whistling. Bianca and Brittany, twin sisters who were in my French class, were close behind her.

"Hi," they said in unison. They sat down across from me, while Claire sat on my left. Riley took a seat on my right. I scooted closer to Claire.

"Hey guys!" Jenna said, sitting down on the other side of Riley. I knew she had a crush on him, and I felt terrible, considering I didn't even like him. But she was the sunshine of the table, so she carried on like nothing was wrong. Plenty more people swarmed the table, but Claire and I usually isolated ourselves from the rest of the group, which was another one of Riley's downfalls. How were Claire and I supposed to chat and laugh with him breathing down my neck? There were plenty of things I wanted to tell Claire at lunch, plenty of inside jokes to say, but I couldn't even do _that _with Riley there. He didn't know much about me, which was why I was shocked to find a bouquet of roses on my porch when I got home. How did he know my address? I grabbed the card and read it out loud.

"To Renesmee, from Riley. 3"

And that's all it said. My eyes stared at the heart (which I thought was a dumb and corny interpretation of a heart) and wouldn't move. I blinked a couple times, then fished for my eye and opened the door. I threw the bouquet in the trash can and covered it with random papers so Mom wouldn't see them and ask questions. Then I ran to my room and collasped on my bed, grabbing my cell phone and dialing Riley to give an insincere thank you.

It was going to be a _loooong_ week.


	7. Chapter 7

**Finally, we've got some werewolves in the house. Sorry if I mess up the wolf colors, all I remember is that Sam was black and Jacob was brown. Don't be mad if I screw this up, wolf girls; I'm Team Edward. But I'm all for Jake/Nessie though! (except the baby part. That's just... wrong.) Thanks for reading, everyone!**

"Now, take a left here. You know, Ness, as much as you've been asking, I'm surprised you're not bouncing out of your seat." I smiled. I knew she would say that, but that's only because she would've done so.

"I'm using vampire powers to control myself," I joked. She stared at me with wide eyes.

"I'm joking!" I said, punching her playfully on the arm. "I'm not even sure we can do that."

"Don't scare me like that, Ness. I don't want you screwing with my mind with your vampire powers."

"I only have one."

"Well, show me!"

"After I see some werewolves, Doodle." We couldn't help but smile at the goofy nickname.

She sighed. "Fair enough. Keep going straight."

It was silent for a while, but not an awkward silence. A nice, peaceful silence. But I had to break it to ask her a question.

"Will they like me?"

"_Of course_ they'll like you, Ness. Seriously, the pack is awesome. Like one big family." I cringed when she said 'pack'. The first thing that popped into my mind was twenty enormous werewolves standing in front of me, exposing razor sharp teeth. She must've seen my expression, because she burst into laughter.

"Ness, you'll be fine! Listen, I'll be with you the whole time." I should've known that wouldn't last very long, because the second we drove up the dirt path, she jumped out of the truck and ran straight into her shirtless boyfriend's arms. _Before_ I stopped driving.

I inhaled a sharp breath and exhaled slowly. Then I got out of the truck and made my way toward Claire, who looked like she was about to swallow Quil whole if she kissed him anymore passionately. I stod awkwardly and waited for them to stop. After a couple minutes, she broke free and looked at me with a confused look on her face.

"Oh!" she said with realization. "This is my best friend, Renesmee. Call her Nessie."

"Hi," I said politely as I could.

"What's up?" he said, pulling me into a hug as if he'd known me all his life. He was warm. _Very_ warm. And his chest was hard. And pretty hot, if I'm allowed to say that without Claire attacking me. I looked at the intricately designed tattoo on his tan arm.

"Staring already? I feel flattered."

"Relax, she's taken. So you're all mine." She pulled him into another passionate kiss, so I decided I could find my own way around after waiting so long for them to stop. Before I could take a couple steps, another buff, shirtless, and very sexy guy came up to me and threw an arm around my shoulder.

"Got sick of them sucking each other's faces? Don't worry about it; happens all the time here. I'm Embry, by the way." He shook my hand with his free hand and dropped it at his side.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Renesmee. Call me Nessie, though."

"Ahhh, so you're the famous Loch Ness Monster? C'mon, I'll show you where the rest of the pack is." He led me to a bonfire on a gorgeous beach, where plenty of hot, shirtless guys were laughing and shoving, just being guys. There were three pretty girls sitting quietly on a log, chatting politely to each other. No large animals in sight so far. Embry, his arm still around my shoulder, walked to the head of the bonfire circle and whistled. Everyone's attention directed to us.

"Alright, guys, this is Renesmee, the Loch Ness Monster." The guys started cheering as if I were a celebrity. I had obviously been a topic of conversation around here.

"So you're the one who's been keeping Claire from Quil!" one of them shouted, laughing. "He wouldn't stop whining about her!" They all burst into laughter, and Embry put a hand up.

"Hey, hey, let's not scare Nessie here." He went around the circle and began giving me the names of everyone. I tried to remember each one as best as I could. I practically jumped out of my skin upon hearing a thunderous growl. I began quivering right there, like a four-year-old kid. No pun intended. The wolves howled with laughter (again, no pun intended) and Embry smirked.

"You okay, kid?" he asked between chuckles. I managed to nod my head slightly. Why was I so scared? I had attacked mountain lions, for God's sake! I heard the pound of paws on the ground and my heart beat so fast, it felt like it would jump out of my chest. I took a large gulp as the paws increased in volume.

"I... I, um..." I stuttered. _Screw it_, I thought, and ran in whatever direction my legs took me. I saw a cute little house not to far away and burst in, not thinking about how rude it was. In an attempt to slow myself down, I crashed into another muscular, shirtless guy trying to balance food and drinks on a plastic tray. I fell to the ground and the contents of the tray flew in the air and covered us in what smelled like lemonade and condiments.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" I sputtered quickly as I could. "I just... I didn't-"

"Relax, it's cool," he said, attempting to brush the food off. My arms flew out to help him put everything back on the tray. He touched my arm lightly, and I looked up into his big, beautiful eyes. I really lost control at that point; I had no idea what had come over me, or where my brain could have ran off to, but all I knew was that we were having a _serious _connection. As he stared at me with curious eyes, I could feel everything wrong with my life disappear- my freakish vampirism, my lack of paternal infulence, or a father in general, the fact that the only family I had was my mother, things I would cry about at night- none of it mattered anymore.

I suddenly realized that in this incredible moment, I hadn't been breathing and exhaled sharply, trying to catch my breath. I ended up choking on the air and clutching my neck. His eyes filled with genuine worry as he practically tripped over himself trying to get some water from the sink. I could've taken the water and drank it myself, but he softly put his hand on the back of my head and tilted it, pouring a small amount of water down my throat. His hand tingled against my skin. I gulped down the water and took a few deep breaths before muttering, "Thanks."

"No problem." And in that whole process, we never took our eyes off from each other. My arm seemed to have a mind of its own, because I lifted it and touched his face to make sure he was real. I was suspicious he may have thought I was a freak... that is, until he did the same. And, for the fist time since I saw his face, my eyes wandered away from his eyes and to his lips. I hoped it wasn't slutty to want to kiss him when I didn't even know his name, but all I was concerned with at the moment was pressing his lips against mine. But I didn't have to do anything; he grabbed both sides of my face and kissed me, just like that. And I had no will to break away. I let him explore every crevice of my mouth, pulling him closer to me. I was very obvilious, but not enough to miss Claire's quiet, "Holy shit." We broke away quickly, nervously looking around the kitchen.

_Thanks, Claire,_ I thought in irritation. My first kiss was cut shorter than I wanted it to be. I looked at her with a _what-the-hell_ expression, and she sent me an apologetic look.

"I just came to apologize for scaring you," Quil said. When did he get here? "I didn't know you'd freak out." He laughed.

"We were just leaving," she said with her teeth clenched, attempting to grab Quil's enormous arm and dragging him out of the door, giving me a look that said, "Tell me everything!" I nodded.

"I guess I should learn your name before doing that again," he said after a while. "I'm Jacob."

"Renesmee," I said, holding out my hand. As he shook it, the spark flew through my body again. I shuddered. "Now can we do that again?"

And his lips crushed against mine again. But before our lips met, I could've sworn I saw Riley in the window.

**I really didn't want to make it too cliche, but I think I failed. Please tell me if I did. Review, PLEEEAAASSE! I'm not afraid to beg.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Over 1,000 people have read this story... *sigh* It's like I'm dreaming... anyway, enough with the dramaticness. Here's something new- we have a chapter from a surprise guest! Can you figure out who it is? (Probably- it's kind of obvious.) Any Bree Tanner fans out there? *singsongy voice* We've got a few cameos! Anyway, here we go!**

_Crash!_

Riley ducked as the shattered pieces of the vase rained over his head.

"Are you a fucking idiot?" I screamed, yanking at my hair in a failed attempt to calm myself.

"I-I didn't think she would break up with me..." he said quietly, cowering on the floor. He made me sick. I paced around the floor, trying to avoid looking at him. Just looking at his face would make me snap.

"I didn't say you had to date her, did I, dumbass? I specifically told you to gain her trust and bring her to me! And now she's got a pack of fucking werewolves protecting her!" I grabbed a glass picture frame off a coffee table, unable to keep myself from getting pissed again. I examined the family on the picture, trying to memorize the faces. There was a teenage girl in the picture, a perfect addition to the army. The young boy and the parents would make a perfect snack. After making my assessment, I launched the frame at Riley; he swiftly moved out of the way and the glass pieces fell next to the vases remains.

Me being angry was an understatement; Riley had ruined everything. This was the crucial part of the plan- getting Bella's daughter.

I found out she was a vampire after my first attempt to single-handedly kill her; of course, that didn't work out well. She was a newborn and on top of that, she had a shield. Laurent told me about her daughter shortly before she killed him; I saw the whole thing through the window of the Denali's house. He took a couple whiffs of her blood and almost cracked. But it wasn't his fault, though; I could smell the kid's blood through the glass.

I began to build an army, knowing she had plenty Denali vampires on her side. Getting Riley on my side was the icing on the cake; until now, he was the perfect second-in-command. Of course, I had to work a little magic. Sure, the poor kid's deluded, and maybe he'll be a little heartborken when this is over, but life isn't fair. I lost James, the best part of my life, and what did I get in return? Nothing but pain. So why not make others suffer the way I had to?

I had a pretty great army when they weren't killing each other; they were obedient, loyal, and eager to please. Like dogs. And Riley was the special little lap dog. But, like dogs, they needed their treats. I mean, what's the point of rolling over without a bone? Well, easily enough, the Nessie kid was the bone.

So, in the end, the plan was simple; train my army, use the kid as the reward, and get my revenge. But, _whooosh!- _that plan just went down the damn toilet.

I took another look at Riley and a rush of anger flowed through my body. My hands fluttered in a search for something else to throw at him. His hands caught mine, and I comtemplated throwing him.

"Now, Victoria, we can find a rational way to handle this. We can just think of another plan." His voice was calm, despite the fact that he looked like he was in hysterics.

"Do you really think I want to think of another plan after I spent four years perfecting this one?"

"Maybe that's where we went wrong, honey. Maybe this plan wasn't meant to be."

I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying to consider what he was saying.

"Okay, Riley. Then tell me what else we can do."

"Give me a week, and I guarantee we will have a new plan." I stared at him for a long time before replying,"You've got a week. Starting now." And he rushed off quickly. I collapsed on the couch and rubbed my temples with my eyes closed, a human habit I thought I had grown out of. When I opened them, two little eyes were staring back at me in the distance. "She looks pissed," I heard faintly.

"Dammit," I muttered, getting up and walking closer to the window. I could make out two figures in the trees, staring into the house.

"Bree! Diego! What the hell are you doing!" I shouted. They disappeared suddenly. I had caught them spying on too many occasions. They asked too many questions, and I was beginning to question whether I should kill them or not when I heard tires against the cement. Laughter erupted from outside the house, and keys jangled. I sighed and stood up, hoping a quick meal would lift my spirits.

**Hehe, there's gonna be some action! Be prepared for some major craziness.**

**REVIEW!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Heyyyy! Back for more fun? I thought so. This chapter will be in Bella's POV. Sorry if I failed at the Spanish part; I try. Thanks to everyone reading; it means a lot to me. On with the story!**

"Ness? I'm home, honey!" I smiled as she came down the stairs, her bronze hair in a ponytail and blue pajama pants on. "Hi, Mom!" Claire followed close behind, her hair in pigtails and a lollipop in her mouth, as usual. "Hey, Ness! Hey, Claire!" I said as they both ran into my arms. "Hey, Aunt Bella!" She had taken to calling me her aunt, and I didn't object one bit. More family was what I needed about now. "So what brings you here, Blondie?" I asked, twirling one of her golden pigtails. Ness and Claire sat on th couch in unison.

"What, I can't come chill with my best friend and second mom without a reason?"

"Of course you can, sweetie. Mi casa es su casa."

"No habla ingles," she said, giggling.

"So, what are you girls doing tonight? Bowling alley? Ice skating rink?" Claire and Nessie did something every weekend together. These girls were inseperable.

"I'm still trying to convice Ness that we should go somewhere, but she wants to hang out here." She tugged on Nessie's arm. "_Please_, Ness? Let's go have some fun!"

"Haven't we been out enough for one month?"

"Go ahead, girls. You should be out having fun, not here with your old mom!" She sighed.

"I guess we could go out for a few hours..." Claire's eyes lit up. "Ooooh, yes! Thank you Nessie! This is why I love you so much." She squeezed her in a huge hug.

"Have fun girls. Be back by at least-" I looked at the wall clock. It was eight. "One." To be honest, I didn't care what time she came home. If there was anyone I could trust, it was Nessie. But I had to lay down some kind of law as a parent.

"Okay, Mom. Thanks!" They ran upstairs quickly, giggling all the way.

I patiently waited for them to change and leave. I loved them both, but I had other places to be.

I cuddled closer to Jacob on his itchy couch, which would've bothered me if I were still human. I loved spending time with him, watching movies on his couch and talking. It was a major stress reliever. About a year ago, he confessed that he was in love with me, kissing me passionately, which I can't deny enjoying. But I wasn't ready for that. I hadn't wanted anything to change just yet. So, we kept it on friend basis and hung out whenever Nessie was with Claire; of course, he didn't know that. We could always be comfortable around each other. He had still been in love with me, even in all my vampirific glory, and... I was beginning to fall in love with him too. Before I arrived, I resolved to tell him how I felt.

But I could tell something was up.

I was so used to the Jacob that still had an obvious lingering crush on me, that _this_ Jacob seemed apparent even to the most oblivious of people. When I first saw him and reached out to give him a hug, it was awkward and kind of... ungenuine. He really hadn't talked to me much, aside from making cliche small talk about the weather. When we sat on his couch, he scooted a bit towards the opposite direction, and, like a little girl, I scooted too. It was our first time watching a movie in silence; usually we'd mock the characters on screen or discuss what was happening. But he hadn't said a word. He didn't even put his arm around me and pull me closer like he usually did; I had to pull myself closer to him. He was so reserved; like he was all business and this was a meeting that he needed to cross off his schedule so he could move on. Even if there was ever something wolf-ish going on where he had to leave, he would try to blow it off to stay with me. But he didn't seem like he was having much fun, and, as a best friend, I needed to know what was wrong. Unfortunately, I came off a little more blunt than I meant to.

"Do you still love me, Jacob?" I asked, regretting it the minute I said it. But there was no going back now. He looked stunned.

"Ummm... yeah, Bells. Of course I still love you. I mean, you're my best friend."

I sighed. "Yeah... but are you still _in_ love with me?" He didn't respond. The glow of the TV reflected on his face.

"Jake?" I whispered, totally embarrassed. If I were still human, I would look like a tomato.

"Why?" he said quietly.

"Why what?"

"Why are you asking?" That caught me off guard.

"I don't know... maybe... maybe I think I'm in love with you too." He blinked a couple times before saying, "What did you say?"

I sighed. "Nothing."

He shook his head. "Bella..."

"Should I not have said that?"

"No, it's fine. Just... a complication." His eyes were glazed over. Realization hit me in the face.

"Oh my God... you... you-!" A big smile suddenly crossed his face, and he looked bashful. A girlish squeal escaped my lips as I stood to turn on the light. I flounced back on the couch, my eyes bright with curiosity. "Tell me everything! What's her name? Is she pretty? What's she like? Does she live at La Push?" Random questions flew out of my mouth uncontrollably. I was truly excited for him, but... I couldn't help feeling let down.

His eyes sparkled with adoration as he stared off in space with a dreamy look in his eyes. "She's amazing. Words can't describe her... Bells, you have to meet her. I just know you'd love her." I highly doubted that, but is it made Jacob happy, I'd do it. "Sure, I'd love to meet her." He smiled and gave me a warm hug.

"Is that why you were acting so wierd?" I asked. "I'm sure if she's so great she wouldn't mind me getting a little comfy with my best friend, would she?" It came out a little more forceful than intended.

"Do I detect a bit of jealousy, Miss Swan?"

I snorted, even though it was true. "In your dreams, Black." I punched him lightly on the arm. Jacob really loosened me up; he told me I was a lot more fun now. Was that because of Jacob's friendship, or the fact that... _he_ was gone?

"I love you, Bells," he said while he was hugging me. "Seriously. No matter who I imprint on, no matter what kind of love it is, no one can change that." He gave me a kiss on the cheek. I smiled and rested my head on his chest. So maybe I couldn't have my cake and eat it too, but I could lick a little icing off the top, right?


	10. Chapter 10

**I read over a few of the chapters and I just want to let anyone know that I can spell, I've been using crappy WordPad to write this story. My regular writing document is acting wierd... Sorry about that.  
Anyway, this is the next Saturday. A week from the time when Riley said, "Give me a week." Yup, that's it. It's back in good ole' Nessie's POV! Enjoy!**

I can easily say that the past week has been the best week of my life.

I don't know what life would've been like if I had never went to school. After all, I met Claire, the best friend a girl could have, who indirectly introduced me to Jacob, the best boyfriend a girl could have. I had the coolest mom ever, and had awesome grades. And, not tooting my own horn, I didn't look too bad either. I didn't need a dad. I didn't need to be human. I didn't need to know my family. Life was almost perfect. The only thing that could make my life completely perfect was if Mom knew about me and Jacob.

On many occasions she noticed my elated mood and wondered what I was so happy about. I really wanted to tell her, but I wanted to wait for the right time. This was a huge step for me, and you could never be too sure with Mom. Besides, she's kept her fair share of secrets from me, so why not?

And, of course, Claire was the main contributor to my breaking out of my shell. She's gotten me to do plenty of things I never would've thought about doing, including sneaking out to see Jacob and Quil a mutlitude of times. Which was what I presumed we were going to do tonight when she told me the plan to fool Mom.

"Act totally innocent," she'd instructed before my mom got home. "She won't suspect a thing. And it'll buy us more time." I should've told her that she wouldn't suspect a thing either way, but I went along with it anyway. More time with Jacob was fine with me. But I was shocked when I found out what we were _really_ going to do.

"Here," she said, tossing a red ball of silk at me. I held it up and it unraveled, revealing a sexy halter dress. "What the hell?" I asked.

"What? You want the black one?" she asked, holding up an identical black dress. "You know, now that I think about it, the red might clash with your hair-"

"Why are we wearing these to La Push?"

She laughed. "We're not going to La Push, sweetie. Jenna's having a party, remember?"

I pouted, crossing my arms like a young child. "I don't want to go to her party. I wanna go to Jake's house." 

"Quil said he's with a friend right now, Ness. Your mom's out of the house, and we've got hours! It's perfect! Besides, I promised Jenna we'd be there."

"Well, un-promise," I said, throwing the dress back at her.

"So you want me to go alone?" I froze, stunned. I knew she wouldn't leave me here while she went to the party... would she? And, it's not that I didn't want to go, it was just that...

"I've never been to a party, Claire." I really didn't know what it was like to get wasted and pass out on the floor; but I'd seen it on TV. I'd always wanted to go to one, but who knew how that'd work out for me? I didn't feel like experimenting (and embarrasing) myself tonight. She sighed.

"Ness, it's just a party." She gave me the puppy dog face, blinking her big, blue eyes.

"We can go to the next one."

"Who knows when that'll be? Ness, c'mon. We have the perfect chance." She sat down right next to me, grabbing my hand.

"_Please_, Ness? It'll be fun! We're teenagers. It's okay to do stuff like this once in a while."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine," I growled, snatching my arm back. Why not? It could be fun... maybe this would even be considered a plus on my quest to become a normal teenager.

"Yaaaay! Thanks, Ness!" she said, kissing my cheek and making a loud, "Mwah!" noise.

"And Claire? For the record, I _always_ get the black one."

...

"Shit," Claire muttered as her red stiletto heel caught in a clump of grass. "How the hell do women do this every day?"

"You know what they say, Doodle: beauty is pain," I said, thought I was equally peeved at my black open-toed heels. "You never told me where you found these, Claire. They're adorable."

"My mom's closet. Next time we're going shopping for our own." It felt good to know that I had a best friend to shop and party with. "We're getting shorter heels next time, though."

"Awwww, stop complaining, Doodle-bear. You look hot." She really did; although Claire looked pretty every day, she really looked almost like a Barbie doll. The red dress she was wearing defined her thin, perfect shape and long legs that were usually hidden behind her school attire. Her long blonde hair had been curled and rested on her chest, which was a lot bigger than she'd preffered. I loved to tease her about it. Claire was only part-Quileute, so her skin wasn't as dark as the rest of the Quileutes. It just looked like a really good tan. But it was undescribable how beautiful it looked as it shined against the bright party lights. I'd never seen her with make-up on; then again, I'd never seen myself with make-up on. But she looked incredible tonight.

"As do you, my dear," she said in a proper tone. I have to admit, I looked pretty good, but I doubted I looked as good as her. My creamy skin glowed even more wearing this dress, and my hair looked even shinier. Claire had even put a little make-up on me, and it was pretty enhancing. All in all, we looked great, and flaunted it togther.

We pushed through crowds of people on the front lawn to get to the wide-open front door.

"Hi, guys!" Jenna greeted the minute we reached the door. She smelled faintly of beer and cigarettes- the party was already getting wild. The music was so loud, the house seemed to shake. We could hear the party from around the corner; we had no problem finding the house.

"God, all kinds of people I don't even know are coming here," she said, her speech a little slurred. She subconsciously twirled a brown piece of hair around her finger.

"It's pretty obvious there's a party going on over here, Jen," Claire said, patting her head. "People could hear it all the way from China."

"That's a good thing, right?" she asked, sounding as if she were the blonde.

"Totally, honey. Maybe Riley will hear about it." Ever since I had ended it with Riley, Claire had made it her personal business to ensure the two had ended up together soon, knowing the huge crush Jenna had on him. Oh, how Claire loved to play matchmaker.

Okay, guys, drinks are being passed around, and you came just in time for the keg. Everyone's been putting their stuff in the bathroom since the closet's being used, but that's not a good idea. We've had seven pukers, and five of them missed the toilet. You guys can put your stuff in my bedroom. We've got spin the bottle in the living room, and seven minutes in heaven next to the closet. Poker's at the dining room table, but only play if you've got some serious cash- they're getting really into it. If the cops come, leave through the patio doors. And there are plenty of empty rooms upstairs, if you need one," she said, giving us a sly wink.

I blinked; that was a little much to take in. So, I could come to the conclusion that this was a hardcore party, and the possibilities of the results were endless. Bring it on.

"Damn, Jen! Not bad!" Claire said, giving her a high five.

"I know, right?" she said, looking drunkenly pleased with herself.

"Jenna, hurry! You're gonna miss Kenny beat Justin at the chugging contest!"

"Gotta go," she said, giving us a quick hug and an instruction to have fun before she ran off, tripping over her own foot twice.

We giggled as we watched her sloppy exit. "God, that was so funny. I wish Jake was here to see that." I gasped as Claire gave me a smack across the face. It wasn't the least bit painful, but I was surprised.

"Ness, this is our girls' night. _No _boys. It's all about us tonight. Just me and you." She linked her arm through mine.

"Sorry, Doodle. That was kinda where my mind had been before you dragged me here," I teased. We finally walked into the house and I faced my doom- which actually looked like a lot of fun. Some were dancing crazily, as if they were in front of a mirror, some were playing various games, some making out, some drinking. Everyone had their own thing going, and it looked like a serious stress reliever. A place to just let go and have fun with a few of my peers.

When we walked in a few guys walked up and began to start conversations, which I politely tried to keep up until Claire yanked me away. We ran upstairs to put our clutch purses in Jenna's bedroom as she'd instructed us and ran back downstairs to engage in the party. We had a lot of energy to burn off, so we just danced until we needed to sit down. We fell onto the couch in Jenna's living room, my head resting on her shoulder while she combed her fingers through my hair. A chubby girl came by with a tray of shot glasses, asking if we wanted one.

"You want to?" Claire yelled as she reached for one; the music was blaring and we could barely hear much of anything.

"Why not?" I said back, and grabbed myself one as well.

"Wait, there aren't any wierd vampire side effects if you drink this, right?" she asked.

"No idea, but I guess we'll find out soon, won't we?" She stared at me for a while, squinting at me as if to tell me what a bad idea this was.

"Let's do it together," I said, grabbing her free hand and trying to distract her from my well-being. She sighed and grasped my hand tight. "One, two, three...!" We threw the glasses down our throats. I winced at the wierd, tingling sensation it caused. It didn't taste good at all, and it immediately made me want to gag. But other than that, I didn't feel drunk or anything.

"Why am I not drunk yet?" I asked.

"Because we barely started, sweetie. It takes a couple glasses before you really start feeling it." My head fell back onto her shoulder and we chuckled for no reason.

"Claire?" we heard a peppy voice behind us say. We both turned to see a commonly pretty girl with long, thin black hair standing behind us, open-mouthed and looking excited. Her face was round and wide, and she had long eyelashes that I almost suspected were fake. I immediately recognized her face from the bonfire, but her name had escaped my mind.

"Kim?" Claire gasped, blinking rapidly.

"Oh my God, what are you doing here?" Kim asked excitedly, jumping up and down and pulling up the sides of her too-tight purple dress. She reminded me of the over-enthusiastic cheerleader you always see at the top of the pyramid, smiling ear to ear the whole time. "Does Quil know you're here? I was just talking to him a few hours ago. He thought you weren't gonna come tonight. He was really upset. Did you know your brother's back? He was asking about you all day."

Claire slapped her palm against her thigh and widened her eyes in shock.

"What do you mean he's back? What the hell is he doing here?"

"I guess he came to visit you," she said, shrugging. Do you want to say hi to Jared? He's in the bathroom, but he'll be out soo-"

"No! No, no, no, Kim," Claire said, cutting her off from her rambling. She spoke faster than an auctioneer. "Please, don't tell him I was here. In fact, don't tell anyone from the rez I was here!"

"But Kyle was looking for you," Kim said, confused.

"Well, tell him to kiss my ass," Claire muttered. Claire had a brother? She'd frequently told me about her older sister, Kayllie, who lived out of state, and I knew they had been really close. But she'd never mentioned a brother.

"But..." Kim started, but stopped after seeing the look on Claire's face. She gave a weak smile and sat down next to us, waving energetically at me.

"Don't tell me!" she said quickly. "Rosemary?"

"Renesmee," I corrected, smiling sweetly as I could. "You can call me Nessie though."

"Right, right, I remember. You know, the other day, I-"

"Uh-huh, it was nice seeing you," Claire interrupted, looking over Kim's shoulder. "Ness, you mind coming with me to the bathroom?" Her eyes signaled she had something serious to tell me.

"Sure," I said, following her as she stood and began to walk away.

"Ummm... see you guys!" Kim shouted from behind us.

Claire took my arm and dragged me upstairs to the empty bathroom with her, locking the door. She sat on the edge of the bathtub while I closed the toilet and sat on its furry covering.

"I had no idea someone from the pack was coming. They can't know we're here. How did they even hear about this party?"

"I don't know, from Kim, maybe? She seems like someone who's into socializing," I said, distracted by the real question I wanted to ask her. I wondered why the pack couldn't know we were here, but I wasn't concerned with that.

"Kim goes to school on the reservation. That doesn't make sense."

"What doesn't make sense is that you could've forgotten to mention to your _best friend_ that you have a brother."

Her lip began to tremble. "Oh, yeah. Must've slipped my mind." I eyed her suspiciously. "Is there something you wanna tell me, Doodle?" She chewed at her fingernails, which I would've scolded her for if I didn't know something was wrong with her. I had just painted her nails last night.

"Claire?" I sat next to her and grabbed her arm. I tugged at it lightly. "Can you tell me what's wrong?" A tear rolled down her cheek. I had never seen her cry before.

"There's nothing wrong," she said quietly, wiping the tear away quickly. "Let's just go have fun, okay? Screw everything else." She forcefully grabbed my arm and yanked me up, taking me downstairs. As the chubby girl passed by again with the shot glasses, Claire grabbed two and threw them down consecutively, wasting not even a drop. She dragged an arm across her mouth and stumbled a bit, leaning onto me.

I had no idea how this night would end, but I had a feeling it would get worse.


	11. Chapter 11

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**Damn, I talk a lot. Anyway, this chapter was a lot of fun to write (especially towards the end), so I hope you like it!**

"Oh my God," Claire muttered before spewing her bodily fluids into the toilet. My hands, currently holding her hair back, released the blonde curls and reached for the toilet paper to wipe away the chunk of puke that missed and landed on her thigh.

"You okay?" I asked her softly, stroking the top of her head.

"I'm fine, hon," she said weakly, falling away from the toilet and into my lap. "Thanks." This was her second trip to the bathroom to throw up, and I really didn't enjoy watching her do it while I held her hair back. She wasn't even that drunk yet; she'd only had three shots. She'd been shoveling food down her mouth the whole time, which I remember her telling me was comforting when she was really upset, and I guessed that was the reason she kept throwing up. But what was wrong with her?

She grabbed my hand and tried to pull me out the door, grabbing the handle and opening it. I slammed it back and yanked my arm from hers.

"Claire, that's it. Something's wrong with you, and we're not leaving this bathroom until you tell me what's going on." She sighed, shaking her head a little.

"Ness..."

"Claire, I don't want to do this, but I can't just pretend like everything's okay when it's obviously not. We're best friends. You can't keep it bottled up."

"Look, Ness, I'll tell you, but I can't tell you here. It just doesn't seem right. I've... I've never told anyone. _Please_, Ness, don't be mad at me." I hadn't seen anyone's eyes filled with that much sorrow since I'd seen Mom upset, who was probably thinking about Dad. "Please," she whispered again. The little tear came back again, but another had joined it on the opposite side.

"C-Claire, I don't know what's happened to you, but when I find out I'm kicking someone's ass."

She giggled and gave a small sniff. I hugged her tightly and told her it was okay.

"You can tell me whenever, Doodle. Wanna go downstairs and have fun?" I took her hand. She smiled and squeezed it lightly.

"And no more food," I told her playfully. "We don't want you bursting out of your dress when Quil's not here." We laughed and walked downstairs to take her mind off of whatever was happening.

...

Well, Claire had taken my advice. She hadn't eaten much since we talked, but she'd been drinking a bit. She was good at holding her liquor in, though, which was surprising judging by her tiny frame. I had my fair share of drinks, too, but I assumed I was immune to alcohol's effects, which was a plus and a negative. We danced for a while, but she said it wasn't helping much, so we sat on the couch. We could hear announcements being given for the drinking contest's lack of exploitives.

"We can go back home, if you want," I told her, hoping maybe she would tell me then.

"There aren't any distractions at home, Nessie. Let's just stay a bit longer," she said with a tinge of sadness in her voice.

She gave an unenthusiatic grin, which disappeared as quickly as it came. Whoever the hell did this to her was really going to pay. It pissed me off just to see how sad she was, and how seemingly easy someone called.

We were still considered part of the sober group in the party. It was only ten thirty and about a fourth of the party attendants had been totally wasted, stoned, or passed out, and Jenna was surprisingly still standing. She wobbled over to us on the couch and fell down. One of her shoes was missing, the strap was hanging off her dress, and her make-up was smudged, but she giggled away, flailing her arms and knocking over a vase.

"Whoops!" she cried, laughing obnoxiously. "I came to ask you guys if you wanted to join the drinking contest. They needed two more players for this round and I was wondering if you guys would do it." Her eyes were closed the whole time as she said this.

As fun as that sounded, it didn't feel like the right time to lose all control, especially when Claire was so upset. Then again, maybe it would help. After all, losing control would distract her from her problem. Or maybe not. Didn't drunk people say things uncontrollably? She could blurt out her secret and probably make it worse.

Wait.

Maybe this was the key to finding out what was wrong with her. But would she find out? Or more importantly, could I really do that to her?

I looked at her sad face, boiling inside again. I had to. I couldn't find out later. What if it was life threatening? What if someone killed her tomorrow and I didn't take charge of the situation? I would _regret_ not doing this.

"Claire, let's do it. It'll be fun, and it'll take your mind off of whatever's going on." She exhaled a large breath and nodded, standing up to follow us.

"You guys know where it is?" Jenna asked.

"We got it Jen. Thanks," I called back. I tugged Claire to the kitchen, where the contest was being held. "We're joining," I told the guy who seemed like the head of the game. He was standing in front of a group of three other guys dressed like him. He was blonde, wearing saggy skinny jeans and and a baggy shirt. Fail.

"Whoooo! Alright, we got some takers!" he shouted. An eruption of cheers enveloped my ears, and I turned to see a huge crowd of people cheering for us. The poker players in the dining room table had paused their game to watch, and so had the kids playing spin the bottle, and just about the rest of the party. It was fine with me, and Claire loved having an audience.

"Alright!" the guy, who I recognized as Darren from Bio class, said. "Nessie and Claire! We got Double Trouble!" He'd started that a long time ago; now everyone referred to us as Double Trouble.

"You know, the rules, right ladies? We'll fill your shot glasses, ad you drink until you can't handle it. Last one standing wins."

"No problem. I got this," I told myself. I tended to have a terribly competitive nature, and the monster in me was starting to expose itself. I'm sure it wouldn't take the whole bottle for her to get drunk, so why not have a bit of fun?

"Ready to lose, Ness?" Claire asked, grinning for the first time in hours.

"You should be asking yourself that question," I said as he poured the first shot.

"Count 'em out guys!" Darren called to our audience. "Go!" We drank the first shot simutaneously, smiling at each other.

"One!" the crowd shouted. He poured another, and we did it again. And again. And again. And somehow ended up on our fouteenth shot.

"Whooo! You girls are on fire!" Kenny called from behind Darren. He was talking in a lightweight voice that seemed to float to the ceiling. Was I wrong about being able to get drunk?

"Fifteen!" the crowd shouted as we threw down another shot. My head pounded, but in a relaxing way. Like a clock. Or... elephant feet. Clocks don't pound. Or do they?

And that was my last thought before I blacked out.

...

"Ness... NESS!" I heard somone yell. "Claire?" A burst of laughter erupted from her and hurt my head. "Ow," I muttered. Or did I say that in my head?

"Wasn't that fuuuuun?" she slurred. I opened my eyes to see her laying next to me. I reached out a hand and touched her face, swirling it around like water. Water... oohhh, that sounded good right now. I looked around to see that we were in Jenna's room, on her bed.

"How did we get here?" I asked, surprised by my own drunken voice. "Hehe," Claire said, but didn't give me an answer.

I closed my eyes again; the lights were increasing the pain of my headache. "Turn the lights off." She reached for the lamp and knocked it over. It made a loud crash and the light immediately went out. Much better.

"I laaaahv you, Nessie-kins," she said in a loud voice. She gave me a sloppy kiss on my cheek and I wiped her saliva away.

"Rawr," I replied.

"Are you a dog? I wanna be a pig!" She made irritating snorting noises, so I hit her with a pillow.

"OUCH!" she screamed, and burst into tears. "Everyone wants to hurt me!"

I started to cry, too, because I didn't mean to hurt her. "I'm soooo sorry, Claire," I blubbered between sobs. God, we were drunk.

"Hoooowwwl!" I said, trying to make her feel better. "See? I'm a wolf! _Hoooowlll_!"

"That's even worse!" she whined, crying harder.

"But you love wolves," I tried to reason.

"I'm such a bad girl. Bad, bad Claire!" she told herself, slapping her own arm roughly.

"Yeah," I agreed, though I didn't know why she was doing it. "Bad Claire!" I joined her in the slapping of her arm.

"Why are you a bad girl?" I asked while we slapped away.

"Because," she cried. "I lied to my boyfriend, did something mean to my best friend, and now I have to tell her about Kyle."

"What did you do to her?" I asked in wonder, and we both stopped slapping. She rubbed her arm, which had turned a brilliant shade of red.

"I told Riley lotsa stuff about her so he would keep my secret."

"Ohhhhh... what was the secret?"

"I can't tell _you_, I'm only telling my bestest friend."

"WAIT!" I said dramatically. I pointed to myself. "_I'm_ your bestest friend!"

"Oh, yeah..."

I was at least able to put two and two together, even in this state. "So that means you can teeellll meeee!" I said in a singsong voice.

"Okay, fine. Can you keep a secret?" she asked me, looking into my eyes. They looked distant, yet serious.

"Of course I can!" I exclaimed, bouncing up and down.

"I have an older brother named Kyle..." she started.

"Uh-huhhh..."

"And, well, he does yucky stuff to me..."

"Yucky stuff? Like feed you broccoli?" I made a random airplane noise and we cracked up. We stopped after wiping the tears of laughter from our faces.

"No, silly!" she cried, shoving my shoulder playfully. "You remember in kindergarten, when the teachers would always say, 'Keep your hands to yourself?'"

I didn't, actually- I had never been to kindergarten- but I bobbed my head anyway. Claire's blue eyes widened until her eyes looked like they would pop out.

"Well, he doesn't follow that rule."

**I hope most of you were able to figure out what that meant. I had it written in a more straight-forward way, but it made me uncomfortable just writing that. *shudders***

**Anyway, review guys. I love reviewing because I know how great it feels. Please, just return the favor.**

**In other words, review or I'll kill you. Or send Kyle after you. Ew, just kidding, I'm not that mean.**


	12. Chapter 12

**God, I love you guys. I can't tell you how many times I've smiled since uploading the last chapter! Pinky, you have now and officially become my muse and inspriation. And the award for best reviewer/awesome person goes to: Nyx's Pinky Girl! *applause* :) And no, Claire had not seen Renesmee's power yet. **

**But I did not forget my other awesome reviewers: sweetsarah81, Ruby o, IDGAFIm Nate (love the name), and Cullengirl10. As for your comment, Cullengirl10, thank you for pointing that out. I did notice that as I read through, and I'll try to be more careful. Please tell me if I'm doing anything wrong, everyone. Constructive criticism is my heroin ;).Thanks, guys, for your support. I only ask that you keep reading and enjoying. **

I felt stiff as a rock, but somehow I was able to open my heavy eyes to see that I was not in my bedroom as I should have been.

"Claire?" I asked, then groaned at the sound of my own voice. It pounded through my head and made me nautious. I managed to raise myself up to gather more information, still not sure where I was or what had happened. I looked out the window to see that it was the crack of dawn. I looked at the clock to see the LED letters flashing 5:37 AM. It all came back to me.

The party. The big secret Claire had never gotten to tell me. The drinking contest. But everything else was a blur.

"Shit," I muttered, trying to shake off the sleep. I occasionally cursed, courtesy of Claire, but not unless I was freaking out. And by now, I was _really_ freaking out. My mother had given us until one to get home and we were five hours late.

"Claire," I said again, my arm reaching for her shoulder and shaking it violently. The girl would not wake up.

"Claire!" She jolted awake, her eyes blinking out of control.

"Huh?" she asked in a daze.

"We need to go now," I said, climbing out of Jenna's bed and stumbling dizzily around.

"Ness, what are you-" She suddenly seemed to remember too, because she quietly asked, "What time is it?" 

"It's five in the morning! You need to get up now." She scrambled out of bed and yanked her heels back on. We grabbed our clutch purses and headed out the door. We stepped carefully over the bodies passed out on the floor, occasionally tripping.

"Bye, Jen," Claire whispered to Jenna, who was splayed wildly on the couch and looked almost as if she were dead. We ran to my truck as fast as possible in stilettos, practically ripping the doors open.

"Can you check my phone to see if my mom's called?" I asked Claire as I began to drive away, far past the speed limit. There weren't many people on the road at this time, so I went a little faster than I should have.

"Sure, sweetie," she replied, grabbing my clutch and searching for my phone.

"Ummm, did you take your phone out last night?"

"Nooo..."

"It's not in here, Ness." Great, I thought. I lost my phone, too.

"Maybe you left it at home."

"Thanks for checking, Doodle. You want me to drop you off at home? I think this is really gonna get ugly." She blinked a few times, then answered.

"No, I'll stay with you for this, Ness. It was my fault anyway." I shrugged.

"Okay..."

...

I could hear my mother from outside the door, dry sobbing. I opened the door slowly, taking a deep breath. The sobbing immediately stopped.

"Ness?" she asked shakily.

"Mom?" I turned the corner to see my Mom on the couch, looking unbelievably angry.

"Where the hell have you been?" she screamed, making Claire jump.

"Ummmm..."

"_Answer me_!"

"At a party," I admitted quietly. She finally took a moment to look us up and down and see our drunken appearances. She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes, inhaling and exhaling despite the fact that she didn't need to breathe.

"You two have been drinking, haven't you?" she inquired dryly. We nodded slowly.

"Why didn't you at least answer your phone to let me know you were okay? I was worried sick!" I didn't think it was an ideal time to mention that I had no idea where my phone was, so I shrugged.

"Claire, I'll take you home-" Mom started.

"No!" she cried suddenly, then recomposed herself. "Ummm, I told my mom I'd stay here, if you don't mind, Bella." She sighed.

"Claire, you're like a daughter to me. If you stay, I'm going to punish you like a daughter."

"That's fine. I think I deserve it. It was my idea," she confessed.

"Sit down, girls," Mom said gesturing to the couch. "Now, if you guys really wanted to go to a party, you should have asked. I would have trusted your better judgement and let you go. But lying to me and coming home hung over at five in the morning is not okay with me, and you know that. Don't let it happen again, girls. I mean it."

"I thought you said we were going to be punished," Claire said in confusion.

"What, you think vampires get punished?" Mom asked, and winked at me. I exhaled in relief. She didn't hate me.

"So what was it like, now that we've got that parenting stuff out of the way?" Mom asked, an excited look in her eyes. She always asked me about human experiences that she might have missed out on. Claire looked at me, confused.

"C'mon, Doodle, its my mom we're talking to," I said, knowing that would explain it all. So we told my mom all about it, excluding the part about running into Kim. And I _still _remembered that Claire never told me what was wrong with her.

...

Victoria's POV

I sat on the arm chair in our new temporary living room, sipping blood out of a wine glass. Even I missed doing human things sometimes. It was early morning, still dark, and I was waiting patiently for Riley to come home with some good news. And I didn't doubt him; even though Riley made a slip, he had always been the perfect sidekick, and I trusted him to bring me a great plan. But he needed to know that I hadn't forgotten his little mistake, and he would pay if this plan was any less than perfect. When he finally arrived, he had a timid, yet confident look on his face.

I stared at him with narrow eyes as I waited for his news.

"Well?" I asked impatiently.

"I, um, know the plan."

"God, I hope so," I said sarcastically.

"It's simple really... we got a head start tonight," he said, calling for Bree. One of my eyebrows shot up in curiosity.

The young girl entered the room nervously, setting a phone down on the arm of my chair. I picked up the object and began to observe, trying to get past the flashing message on the front that said "17 Missed Calls". When I finally did, the sides of my mouth pulled up into a small grin. The wallpaper showed a pretty blonde and a bronze-haired beauty, smiling happily into the camera. Their faces showed that they had been having a lot of fun, and they looked as if they had just shared an inside joke and were laughing at others trying to figure it out. But those sparkling brown eyes... I could feel my throat burn with thirst at the sight of those eyes. They reminded me so much of the feeble human who ruined my life.

Bree skittered to Riley's side as I set the phone down and eyed both of them. Riley gulped and began.

"Well, I figured if she has wolves on her side, all we have to do is turn them against her."

"Riley, she's got a werewolf _imprinted_ on her. A stolen cell phone won't do much."

"Just listen," Riley pleaded. He nudged the kid next to him, who squeaked before speaking.

"I found out something about the blonde, Renesmee's best friend. Her name's Claire. She has an older brother, Kyle, who... touches her." She stared at me, waiting for a reaction.

"Go on," I said with a continuation gesture of the hand, unfazed by Blondie's dilemma.

"Well, she didn't want Renesmee to tell anyone. Turning Claire against her will really give us an upper hand."

"And this will help us _how_?" I asked, seeing as this plan seemed incomplete.

"Just trust us, honey," Riley whispered. "We know everything will turn out in our favor."

"Riley, if you screw me over, I swear-" I growled, rising out of my seat.

"I really don't think you should be worrying about this, Victoria," a smooth voice piped up from behind me. I turned to see our visitor. Diego. "I'm sure you have more important things to be worrying about. I garauntee, we'll carry out with the plan and you will be satisfied."

I was, of course, doubtful of this plan. It seemed faulty, like a boomerang that would backfire on us. Didn't that always seem to happen to the "villains"? This was to risky for me to put all my faith in them, yet I really wanted to. Besides, Bree and Diego were the last two I thought would be helping Riley and heavily participating in the plan. In fact, those two were the only army members I had actually met. By accident, of course; I pretty much knew the army from watching from afar, and those two always seemed to be the quiet stragglers who always seemed like they knew too much. But, then again, maybe that was just what we needed. Expert spies.

"Okay, you three," I said, clenching my teeth and slamming the wine glass on the table. "All I want by the end of the month is three things. One: I want the army fully trained. Two: I want this plan of yours to work flawlessly. And three: I want Bella and Renesmee _dead_. Bree, Diego, consider yourselves Riley's beta. Help him keep the army in line and handle this plan with the wolves. _Anything_ goes wrong, and I'll make sure you're all dead before I go, and I'll really make it last."

**I really didn't feel satisfied with this chapter, but it had to happen to move on. Bella's kinda taking on some traits from Renee, isn't she? Haha, hope everyone's lovin' reading it, 'cause I'm lovin' writing it.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey, guys! Pinky, is there anything you **_**can't**_** do to put a smile on my face? I am patiently waiting for my nickname ;)**

**To another one of the coolest people ever, I'd like to thank alicecullenhaleluvsjasper for the lovely message I recieved in my inbox. I'm so glad you like it. I was going to leave a message in your inbox, but decided that you deserved a shout out too, and a few cool points as well. :)**

**Guess what, everyone? I totally forgot about Jake/Nessie fluffiness. I can't believe I forgot to write something with those two since when they first met! Argggh... well, I hope it's at least implied that they have spent time together since then, and I'll write a bit here to make up for it. Forgive me if it sounds like I have no idea what I'm talking about regarding the "Test Your Strength" thing. I don't really know all the statistics of it, lol. I just thought it would be cute. I tried to make this as adorable as possible :)**

"Want some?" I asked Jacob as I twirled a piece of cotton candy around my finger.

"Nah, my sweet tooth's been satisified already," he said, kissing my cheek.

"Way to be corny, Jake," I chuckled, nudging him.

"I try," he said, smiling. Upon finding out that I'd never been to a carnival before, Jacob insisted on taking me to one, no matter what the distance. And, obviously, there were no carnivals in Forks _or_ La Push, so he drove me up to Seattle to attend their local carnival. I was scared to death; rides didn't seem like a leisure type of thing for me. But after spending merely half an hour here, I never wanted to leave. We had taken a break from the rides so Jake could do what all boyfriends did- try to win me a prize from a game booth.

"Which are you going to first?" I asked as I stuck another piece of cotton candy into my mouth.

"That one," he decided, pointing toward the "Test Your Strength" meter.

"Cheater," I teased, knowing he could easily win a game that simply required seeing how high you could get a bell by hitting a spring with a mallet.

"I doubt you mind." He grabbed my hand and we walked toward the booth, where other slightly muscly guys were trying to show off for everyone. The most anyone had gotten was about three-fifths of the way to the top.

"'Scuse me," he muttered, pushing through and handing a dollar to the guy running the meter.

"You've got three chances," the guy said as he handed him a mallet. "You get a prize if-" He was cut off by the ringing of a bell. He looked up to see that Jacob had already hit the bell straight to the top. The guy's jaw dropped in awe as he stared at the bell, and then at Jacob.

"_Duuuude_!" a guy behind us said in shock.

"You're the first guy to ever reach the top," the guy at the booth said in astonishment.

"I believe you owe me a prize," Jacob smirked.

People watching began to applaud as the guy reached for a _huge_ bear (panda, to be exact). There was only one, so I imagine it was very difficult for one to acquire.

"Here, sweetie," Jacob said, giving me another gentle kiss on my cheek and giving me the panda. I could hardly hold it; I had to hold it under my arm to have a full grasp on it.

"Thanks," I said, and blushed. "Any other games you wanna cheat at before we go on another ride?" We had been on the ferris wheel, the mini-roller coaster, and a ride that spun so fast, I still felt dizzy. But I was still having the time of my life. The most Mom had ever taken me to was Chuck E. Cheese when I was younger.

Turns out Jake _did_ have more games he wanted to cheat at.

"C'mon, let's go to the milk bottle game!" he said, referring to the game where you have to knock over milk bottles with a baseball. And, as I predicted, he actually shattered the milk bottles.

"Woah! Do I get two prizes for that?" he asked the girl who was running the booth. She looked at him in disgust and we ran away, laughing until tears ran down our faces.

"Jake, I'm worried about Claire," I said to him after he'd finished off a plate of nachos and was starting on his second. We'd stopped for a snack break, mostly just for Jacob's sake.

"Why?" he asked, his nacho mid-air.

"I don't know... there's something really wrong with her. I mean, she was going to tell me some big secret at the party-"

"Party?" he asked. Oops...

"My friend Jenna had a party that we went to," I confessed.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, stuffing a chip into his mouth as his eyes widened with sadness.

"Well, you were with your friend and Claire and I were bored. Speaking of which, who is this friend?" I asked. He choked on his chip for a second, then took a sip of his Dr. Pepper.

"H-huh?" he sputtered.

"You heard me."

"You have nothing to worry about, honey. She's really nice."

"_She'_?" I said in the least jealous affliction I could manage.

"Ahem, so, what's up with Claire?" he asked, attempting to change the subject.

"What's up with you _friend_? She knows about me, right?"

"Look who's talking? How many _friends_ did you make at that party?"

"You can't turn this over on me, Ja-" I stopped as I realized what we were doing. I smiled across the table at him, and he smiled back.

"Our first fight," he marveled. "You wanna take a picture?" He loved to tease me about how I took pictures to put in my scrapbook the first time I did everything. I had already taken pictures to represent my first best friend, my first true love (I realized that I really didn't want Riley in my scrapbook as my first boyfriend), my first day at school, and I was going to add my first carnival tonight.

"Why not?" I joked, taking out my camera and scooting close to him. We made mock angry faces at each other as I snapped the picture. I kissed his lips softly.

"I trust you, Jake. I just overreacted."

"Me too," he said, kissing me back.

"Our first make-up." I laughed as I snapped another picture of us.

"C'mon, let's get in line for the Tilt-a-Whirl!" he said, standing and running to the line. I sighed and stood to follow behind him. Once, again, the subject of Claire had been ignored.

...

"W-when did it get so c-c-cold?" I stuttered, shivering like crazy. Jake wrapped his arms around me, which definitely helped.

"We're almost to the car, honey," he whispered, holding me tighter. The carnival closed at seven, and Jake had parked far away. Far, as in six blocks away. It wasn't a problem walking _to_ the carnival, but walking _from_ the carnival in the freezing cold wasn't my idea of fun.

"Can we go in?" I asked, pointing to the pet store we were about to pass. I loved animals, but I had never really seen them up close,.

"Ness, really?"

"_Please_?" I pleaded, using the puppy-dog eyes thet Claire taught me. She said the wolves couldn't resist it.

"Fine." I smiled and inwardly thanked Claire. We walked in and I immediately inhaled the grassy smell contently. I observed the adorable animals around me; there were puppies, kittens, hamsters, guinea pigs, fish... it was like a domestic zoo.

"Awwwww!" I squealed, and Jake rolled his eyes.

"Can we go now?" he asked.

"Jake..."

"Kidding. Go nuts." I ran around the store, observing every animal in the store, saving the puppy section for last. When I finally reached the puppies, I fell in love. There were dogs of all different breeds in different containers, scratching at the glass that separated them from the outside world.

But one of the puppies really caught my eye. It was a tiny little thing- the smallest in the container, actually- with all black fur and a brown face. The sticker on the glass read, "Yorkshire Terrier." There were two others in the glass container, shoving the smallest one out of the way as they went to devour the food. As it realized that it had no chance of getting something to eat, it somberly turned and curled into a tiny ball in the corner. I tapped the glass lightly to get its attention. Its ears perked up, and it stood and touched its nose to the glass where my finger was. I locked eyes with the beautiful creature, staring into its hazel eyes. It began to paw at the glass, making a small whining noise.

"Jake!" I called. "Come'ere!" He shook his head.

"I'm not a dog person."

"You _are_ a dog, Jake!" I joked. Come on!" He reluctantly ran toward me, wincing as he looked at the yapping puppies.

"Ugh," he grunted, turning away.

"How ironic that you don't like dogs... anyway, look at that one. Isn't it adorable?"

"You wanna hold her?" a voice behind me asked. I jumped, and my little puppy gave a sharp bark. I turned to see the guy who was behind the counter, with a nametag that said, "Joey". I smiled when he said, "her." I adored female dogs from old Disney movies, like Lady from Lady and the Tramp, or Georgette from Oliver and Company. I had always wanted a little princess pooch of my own, someone to spoil rotten.

"I can hold her?" I asked, getting excited.

"Sure," he said. "Usually you can only hold them if you're buying them, but business has been terrible. Most of these guys are going to the pound anyway, so it doesn't matter."

"The _pound_?" I spat, as if it were a disease.

"Ness, just hold the dog so we can leave," Jake urged. I rolled my eyes as Joey retrieved the precious puppy from its container, handing her to me. I was afraid at first; I had never even touched a dog (other than Jake), let alone held one.

"Hold her at the base of her tail. Cradle her like a baby if its easier," he instructed. I did so, and it was a wonderful feeling. The warmth of her tiny body sent chills up my spine. I touched my nose to hers, and she responded with a cold, wet kiss, which tickled. Her tongue was thin and snake-like. I giggled, and I could've sworn it looked like she smiled at me.

"Hi there, cutie," I cooed, scratching her chin. "You wanted some food, didn't you? You wanna come home with me to get something to eat?" She made a tiny bark.

"She has no idea what you're saying," Jake said with an amused smile.

"Of course _you_ can understand what she's saying," I teased.

"Very funny."

"You think if we had a kid it would look like this?" I put her next to my face and imitated her panting.

"Nah, you're forgetting the fangs." We both began to laugh, and it seemed like the puppy was laughing along with us.

"Take a picture, Jake! My first encounter with a puppy." He snapped a picture and handed the camera back to me.

"Jake, seriously, she is too cute." She looked so relaxed in my arms, as if she were meant to be there. I sighed. "She's like a little angel."

"See, this is exactly why I didn't want to come here. You're getting attached to a puppy who'll be going to the pound soon."

I gasped and covered her ears. "Jake! Why would you say that in front of her!" He looked at me as if I were crazy.

"I think it's time to go..." he muttered, grabbing the little angel from me and holding her at a distance. She could easily fit into the palm of Jake's enormous hands.

"Here," he said, handing Joey the puppy.

"But Jake-"

"Ness, it's for your own good. You shouldn't get attached to things you can't have." I stared at him coldly, then decided he was right.

"Okay." I gave the puppy one last scratch and tenderly kissed her head.

"Bye, precious. I'll see you soon."

"Don't tell her that. You won't see her soon."

"What does it matter? I thought you said she couldn't understand me." I smiled and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, sir," I called as we left the pet store.

The whole ride home I couldn't stop thinking about the little puppy I could someone send an adorable little dog to the pound to be put down? It was terrible. I tossed and turned in bed all night, finally bursting into tears when I thought of what they would do to her. I resolved to drive down there in the morning and visit her, or maybe even rescue her if I was sneaky enough; I was sure I could remember the directions well enough. In the morning, I told Mom I'd be at the library and she allowed me to leave.

After hours driving and driving to search for the pet store, I finally found my destination. But my efforts had been wasted, because when I ran to the back of the store to see my angel, I found that half the dogs that were present the previous day had been gone. Including my puppy.

I drove home in tears, yet I was proud of myself for at least attempting to save her. I prayed that someone would adopt her in those short three days they would allow her to live at the pound. When I arrived home, Mom was nose-deep in her tattered copy of Romeo and Juliet, her face concentrated.

"Oh, hey, sweetie," she greeted when she saw me.

"Hey, Mom."

"Claire called. She wanted me to tell you that she needed you to meet her in your "secret place" immediately when you got home, and that it's an emergency." Our secret place was code for La Push, and we always used that when talking around Mom. My throat went dry as my mind immediately travelled to worst case scenario.

"_What_? What happened?"

"No clue, but you'd better get over there. It sounded really serious." She stuck her nose back in her book. _Oh God_, I said in my head. _Please, don't let anything have happened to her. Please. _My heart felt like it would jump out of my chest as I ran outside and hopped in the rusty old truck. I dug in my pocket for my cell, only to remember that I had no idea where my cell was. I drove to La Push with shaking hands on the wheel, my pulse increasing with every second and my nerves tying a tight knot in my stomach. What if this has something to do with her secret? What if she were about to get killed or something and I was too late?

I sped to a stop as I reached the beach. I saw no one outside, and assumed they might have been calling an ambulance for her or giving CPR. A faint glow shone in the distance, and I jumped out of the truck, barely managing to shut the door as my legs sped off. I could make out Emily's house and ran straight to the front door, not even bothering to knock. I opened the door and gasped.

"_Surprise_!"

...

"Happy birthday, Nessie!" Claire shouted, squeezing me like a boa constrictor. I couldn't believe it. It seemed like everyone from La Push was here (even Leah). Emily's living room was decorated with pink balloons, streamers, and a long banner that said, "Happy Birthday Nessie!" on it.

"Oh my God, Claire, you had me worried sick! I thought something had happened to you!"

"Told you she'd freak," Embry said, high-fiving Quil. "That part was our idea."

"Mine too!" Seth added in.

"Your mom was in on it the whole time. She thinks you're ere with people from school, though."

"Claire, it's not even my birthday!"

"Yeah, I know. But your mom told me that your birthday was about a week before I met you, and I just had to do something for you. I was gonna kidnap you and take you somewhere so we could celebrate together, but what better way to celebrate than with everyone?" The whole room cheered.

"Claire, you shouldn't have, really. It's not that big of a deal."

"Oh, yes it is, Ness. We love you and wanted to show our love."

"Thanks, everyone," I said. "This really means a lot to me."

"It was Claire's idea," Quil said, wrapping an arm around her. "We just helped with the other stuff."

"Actually, Emily, Kim, and Leah helped me," Claire corrected him. "You guys 'tested' the food."

"Thanks, Doodle-bear," I said, returning her deathly hug.

"Where's Jacob?" I asked, craning my head around the house to look for him.

"He's getting the cake ready in the kitchen."

"There's a cake?"

"What kind of party doesn't have a cake?" Jared asked, which caused everyone to laugh.

"It's your favorite, Ness. Strawberry shortcake."

"God, do you read her diary or something?" Quil asked. "I swear, what _don't _you know about this chick?"

"Its called "BFF" for a reason, Quil," she said, pressing her cheek to mine as we hugged. "Alright, everyone. The birthday girl's here, so we can party!" The room erupted in more screaming and whooping, and Claire ran to turn on the stereo, which happened to be blasting "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha. I'm glad Emily doesn't have neighbors, because that would be a problem if she did.

As I danced in a circle that consisted of me, Claire, Quil, and Embry, a pair of arms wrapped around my neck.

"Happy birthday," Jake whispered. I turned around and gave him a huge hug as he kissed my forehead.

"Thanks."

"Now I feel terrible. I had no idea it was your birthday."

"It's not even my birthday, Jake. Don't worry about it."

"I wish I could've beat Claire to the punch and threw the surprise party, but she's got more connections than I do." He stuck out his tongue at Claire, who returned the gesture.

"You'll meet my mom soon, Jake. I'm not ready yet."

"I know, Ness. I just feel like I don't fully know you yet. Like a part of you is missing."

"Jake, my mother isn't my other half. _You're_ my other half." I hugged him tighter.

"Well, what am I, then?" Claire asked in mock anger.

"You're my muse, Claire-bear."

"Awww, I'm touched, Nessie." She put a hand on her heart. "Where's the cake, Jacob? I know we were gonna give it to her later, but I think she deserves it now."

"Emily's taking care of it. I almost dropped it," he admitted.

"Nice, Jake. AUNTIE EM!" she shouted.

"I'm coming, Dorothy!" Emily always responds to Claire with the name "Dorothy" when Claire calls her "Auntie Em", and it never fails to make me giggle.

"Everyone to the dining room!"

Everyone huddled to the dining room as Claire instructed and sat down at the table. Most people had to stand; Emily only had eight chairs at her table. Claire turned off the lights and the music as Emily entered with an enormous cake, which was so tall it hid her face. Eventually Sam went to assist her with it. I couldn't believe they went to all this trouble for me.

"That's my cake?"

"Only the best for Nessie-kins!" Claire sang as Sam finally made it it to the table and put the cake right in front of my face. It was stunning.

The cake was white with an intricately designed border that had pink icing roses on it. There was a picture of me and all the pack in the middle from my first day in La Push; I had asked everyone to gather around for a picture for my scrapbook and sent a copy to Emily.

"It's gorgeous," I marevled. "I almost don't wanna eat it!"

"Well, she didn't bake a cake for us to stare at, Ness! Take a picture or something, 'cause it smells really good and I'm getting a piece." I did so, causing Claire to roll her eyes at my literal interpretation of her sarcasm.

"Ready now, princess?" Quil asked.

"One, two, three!" Claire guided, and everyone began to sing 'Happy Birthday'. I blew out my candles and grinned as everyone cheered.

"Thanks, everybody."

"And many mooorrreee..." Embry began.

"I said 'thanks', Embry," I said, really not wanting him to sing anymore. We all laughed together, and I finally felt like a had a complete, loving family.

"Did I miss the party?" a deep voice coming from the window said just when Jake finished slicing the cake.

"Who could that be?" Emily wondered. She opened the front door and a tall, handsome blonde walked in the room. He was thin, with movie star white teeth. He had a goofy, fun-loving grin on his face as he entered the room. He had a strong resemblance to Claire, and I realized that he was her brother.

"Kyle!" everyone said, except Claire, who looked pale as a ghost. Everyone ran to embrace him whether it be a hug or a fist-pound, but Claire's feet stayed glued to the ground.

"Um, I have to go to the bathroom," she whispered in my ear, scurrying off.

"So, where's the birthday girl?" he asked after everyone had gotten in their greeting.

"Right here," I said, raising my hand.

"Here you go," he said, setting a neatly wrapped box on the table next to the cake. "I'm Kyle. Nice to meet you, Renesmee."

"Call me Nessie."

"No!" Claire shouted, running back in suddenly. "Don't call her Nessie. Only her _friends_ are allowed to call her that." She stood in front of me defensively as I wondered what the hell was going on.

"O-kay," he muttered. "I see you're still going crazy, Little Sis." He rumpled her hair, and she smacked his hand away and fixed it.

"Don't touch me," she warned, giving him a cold stare. But he did't seem like he cared. He mouthed, "She's wierd" to me and chuckled, turning and walking to another group of people.

"Kyle, you're just in time for the cake," Emily called.

"Awesome. You know I'm a sucker for cake."

"You're a sucker for any food, dude," Quil joked. Emily distributed pieces of the cake, which was absolutely delicious.

"Wanna open presents?" Seth asked me.

"Do I even have to answer that question?" I was like my mother in a lot of ways, but when it came to birthdays and presents, we were on a different level.

"Open mine first!" everyone began to shout all at once.

"Relax," I said as I picked a present at random from the floor, where everyone had put their presents. The first one I picked was from Seth, Embry, Quil, Paul, and Jared. I opened it to reveal an iPod touch, shiny and new.

"Shut up!" I squealed as I stared in disbelief.

"We just pooled some of our money together," Seth explained, smiling.

"Thanks you guys! You're incredible! How did you know I wanted one of these?"

"Claire was our gift consultant; everyone went to her to ask what to get you."

"True," she agreed.

I had really been spoiled this birthday; I had gotten 170 dollars from various people, three singing birthday cards, a new camera, a DVD copy of me and Claire's favorite movie, Mean Girls, and enough clothes to replace my wardrobe. Claire wanted me to save her gift for last, and it was worth the wait.

She set a little pink box in front of me, complete with a little silver bow tied around it. I gasped as I opened the box and pulled out two plane tickets to New York City, the one place I had always dreamed of going to.

"Oh my God!" I squealed, choking on my own breath. "Claire, you-! I- I can't-"

"Shhh," she hissed, putting a finger to my lips. "There's more." I took the foam that the tickets were sitting on out of the box and felt a wet tear form in the corner of my eye.

"I hope its not corny," she said sheepishly. There were two beautiful white gold necklaces in the box, each one half of a heart and fit together perfectly. On one side, inscribed in cursive, it said 'best' and the other said 'friend'. The other side said 'Nessie' on one and 'Claire' on the other.

"Don't read the card yet," she whispered to me. "Read it when you get home." I burst into tears at everyone's generosity; how could my life get any better?

The rest of the party went as follows: we played games like Pin the Tail on the Werewolf, Claire avoided Kyle at all cost, who was actually a pretty cool guy, and I had a LOT of fun. Best birthday ever.

But those weren't the only surprises I had that night; I got home to find Mom gone and another present in my room. As I lugged all my presents up to my room, they all tumbled to the floor immediately.

Sitting on my bed, a big red bow tied around her neck, sat the puppy from the pet store. My little angel.

**Yay for long chapters! Alright, the action begins again, my friends. So Nessie has a puppy now! I adore Yorkies, so I had to give her that breed. I hope everyone's enjoying themselves reading this!**

**Please REVIEW, MY LOVES! There's a little button down there. (see chapter 11 for instructions)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Okay, so I lied. This won't just be from Nessie and Bella's POV. I actually don't know anymore because this is going in a different direction than I intended... but in a good way. Anyway...**

**We have a few appearances from Bree, because I didn't realize how vital she would be in this story. This chapter happens to be one of them.**

**Thanks for all the support I've been getting from everyone! This has been so much fun to write and I'm getting more and more excited as the story becomes more climatic!**

**Pinky, Sunshine is perfect. I love it as much as I love you, girl. :)**

"How about Mona? Like the Mona Lisa... you said you wanted it fancy, right?"

"That'd be cute," I said, scratching my new puppy's stomach as I lay across the bed.

"You like Mona?" I asked the puppy. She remained unresponsive.

"Mona's out."

I had been on the phone with Claire on this subject all day at school the next day, and we'd needed to continue on the phone; what would be the perfect name for the new puppy? Claire had been just as intent on finding the perfect name as I had. She strongly held her position as the puppy's aunt, and refused to have her named something dumb. I played with the tag on her bow around her neck that said, "To Renesmee. A perfect puppy for a perfect girl. Love, Jacob." Since Jake knew my mother had no idea who he was, he'd asked Claire to bring her here last night since she had a key.

I'd taken the puppy out for a walk after school and discovered a lot about her- she was still the shy little puppy I saw in the pet shop, yet she had protective tendencies when it came to my safety. She only barked when she thought I was in danger, and she was really conerned about my well-being and considered every little thing a haphazard. Yet, she was very polite and persistent- if there was a single area that was not marked by her, she wouldn't let us leave until she did. She didn't want me to watch her use the bathroom, either. If I wasn't turned around, she wouldn't do anything.

"Thirty-four minutes left until her one day anniversary in the Swan home," I told Claire. "And we still haven't thought of a name."

"Well, what do you want it to be like?"

"I want it to be classy and elegant, yet fun. It has to be really beautiful."

"Maybe it should be foreign... Italian, maybe? Isn't your mom's name Italian?"

"Yeah, but it's so common. I know plenty of Isabella's. You hear that name all the time."

"When you're done insulting my name, can you come down for dinner, Ness?" my mom called from downstairs. It was so easy to forget that she could hear everything.

"Yeah, Mom," I called back, laughing. My mom hadn't been too keen on the puppy when she first met her.

_"What the hell is that?" she asked when she saw her run down the stairs._

_"Oh, um... Claire got her for me," I lied._

_"When is she leaving?"_

"No, she's mine now. She was one of my birthday presents!"

_"Not to scare you, baby, but I really don't think that's a good idea. You do realize what could happen, right?"_

"Mom, relax. That's why there's such thing as hunting."

_"Ness, she has to leave."_

_"But Mom! They were gonna take her to the pound! She would have been killed!"_

_"The same thing could happen here."_

_"Mom, please? She's really sweet."_

After a lot of work convicing my mom to keep her (and a few kisses from the puppy), she finally agreed to let her stay, and even took a liking to her.

"That's my cue, Claire-bear. When's Kyle leaving?"

"Wednesday."

"Two more days, hun. You can do it."

"I'm not sure if I can... if someone doesn't kill Kyle soon, I'll have to do it myself." I laughed, but I didn't hear her laugh along with me.

"You think I'm kidding, Ness, but if he does one more thing to piss me off, I swear-"

"Ness! Come downstairs!"

"I gotta go, Doodle. "I'll see you tomorrow. And thank you for everything. I couldn't ask for a better best friend."

"Oh, stop," she said, the playfulness finally floating back into the conversation. "You're flattering me."

I smiled. "Bye, Claire." I hung up and ran downstairs with the puppy in my arms.

"You think of anything?" Mom asked as she flipped two meat patties in her pan.

"Nah, not yet," I said, scratching the little angel's head.

Where's Claire?" Mom asked.

"She's at home, Mom. Her mom made her stay home this week because her brother's visiting."

"Well, that's good. I'll bet she was really missing him. He lives out of state, you said?"

"Yeah, out in Colorado. I met him at the party."

"How old is he?"

"Nineteen, I think."

"Is he nice?"

"Yeah, he's really cool. Everyone loves him. But Claire doesn't really like him much."

"Maybe it's just a sibling thing, Ness." Neither of us had ever experienced siblings, so we thought maybe it was just something we didn't understand.

"I should adopt a kid, huh? That'd be fun, don't you think?"

"I hope you're kidding. Besides, you look old enough to be my sister."

"Doesn't every mom wish they could say that?" she said, striking a pose.

"You do look hot, Mom," I said, chuckling. The little dog squirmed in my arms as she smelled the patties cooking.

"Well, I guess the dog can have the other burger if Claire's not here. I'm so used to making two dinner plates now. It's like she lives here."

"She hates it at her house. She said before she started coming here all the time she used to stay with her boyfriend or her sister when she and her mom started fighting too much. They really don't have a good relationship."

"Poor thing," Mom muttered. "Well, she knows she's always welcome here." She put a patty on a paper plate and set it on the floor. I released the puppy and she ran straight for the patty, eating it in the blink of an eye.

"Yeah," I said distantly, taking my hamburger and sitting at the table. It was wierd having someone sympathesize for Claire when she was such a strong person in my eyes.

"So what'd she get you?" Mom asked. "She told me she got you something she knew you'd love." I smiled as I touched the necklace around my neck, then rasied my chin and puffed my chest out proudly to show my mother the beauty in its home.

"Oh my God," Mom marveled, touching it softly. I knew she could crush it to dust if she made the mistake of pressing it too hard. "This is real white gold, Ness!" 

"I know. Its beautiful, isn't it?"

"Where does she get the money to buy something like that?" Mom wondered.

"No idea, but I don't know how I ended up so lucky. Claire's the best friend I could have."

"You hold on to her, Ness. You really mean a lot to her."

"And she means a lot to me."

"Remember, Ness: a friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you've forgotten the words."

I laughed. "What movie did you steal that from, Mom?"

"What? I did no such thing!" I stared at her accusingly. "I'm busted, huh? I got it from a Lifetime movie. Shhh..." I smiled and gave her a hug.

"I'll remember that. Thanks."

...

Bree's POV

"Move, Diego!" I playfully pushed him aside as I stood at the window of Blondie's house, waiting for her to enter the room again. Riley didn't seem like he knew what he was doing when he sent us here to spy on her, because I really didn't see how that would make the plan any different, but hey, he was the boss.

"As the president of the super-secret ninja club, I think I have the right to see what's going on first."

"Who made you president?"

"I thought it was implied."

"Shhh," I said as I saw Blondie walk through the living room, though I was trying to stifle giggles of my own.

"Get your lazy ass up," Blondie muttered as she yanked a blanket off the couch and revealed a blonde woman who looked like she was probably in her forties. She rubbed her red eyes and yawned, combing her fingers through her hair. "And clean yourself up, for God's sake. Don't you have someone to whore off of tonight?"

Diego and I discovered from a previous spying session that Blondie's mom had thrived off of the money of other men that she had married and divorced soon after. I personally thought it was pretty smart- of all the ways to make good money, I never thought of being a professional gold-digger. Diego told me he had at least learned a valuable lesson from this: pre-nups are a man's best friend.

"Did you come down here to piss me off, or tell me something?" the woman said in a raspy, deep voice. She sounded sleepy and irritated, a bad combination in my case.

"Your son wants you."

"He has a name, you little brat. Go help him with whatever he needs."

"I'm not going near him. I'm going to Ness' house. I'm coming back tomorrow."

"Didn't I say you have to stay here while your brother's visiting?"

"I don't give a rat's ass about your demon spawn."

"Excuse me?" the older woman asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, sorry. I don't give a rat's ass about _Kyle_."

"I wish he was the only demon spawn I had," she said, fishing in her purse on the glass coffee table and pulling out a cigarette. I winced; that was a low blow, but Blondie didn't seem fazed.

"Take that outside," Blondie said, pushing the woman's back trying to shove her up. "You're gonna get that crap all over the house."

"I spent all day cleaning, brat. I can make it messy again if I want to."

"Do you see an ashtray in here?" Blondie asked with her hands on her hips.

"No, but I see an ass_hole_." Just as the woman grabbed for her lighter, the other blonde, Kyle, ran downstairs. The woman stashed the cigarette under her pillow quickly, as if to hide it from Kyle.

"Hey, Mom," he said, stopping to give her a kiss on the cheek and a sunny smile.

"Hi, honey," she cooed, the infliction in her voice changing dramatically. "How are you?"

"Just great, Mom. Ummm, I was wondering if I could go down to La Push to visit the guys for a while."

"Go ahead, baby. Have fun."

"Claire, you wanna come with me?" he asked innocently.

"Screw you," she replied, earning herself a slap on the arm from her mother. "Stop being rude, Claire."

He shrugged and left the house, winking at Claire before doing so.

"Why would you let him go out and make me stay here?"

"Because you're a little ass, that's why," her mother said, her voice returning to its normal infliction. She reached under the pillow to retrieve her cigarette and lighter. "Besides, you heard him ask if you wanted to go."

"Why do you always hide your cigarette when he walks in the room?"

"I don't wanna be a bad influence on him. He's the only one here who'll actually make something of himself someday. I don't need him dying of lung cancer."

"If by 'make something of himself' you mean he'll be a porn star, then I agree completely." Claire rolled her eyes and trudged up the stairs, rubbing at her arm where her mother had left a red mark. Diego and I crouched down into the bushes again.

"Have we gained any new information on this mission, Agent Cool Breeze?" Diego asked. We had agent nicknames for each other that we always used when sent to do something; I was Agent Cool Breeze, and he was Agent Diablo.

"Other than the fact that Blondie and her mom have shitty communication skills, not really, Agent Diablo." We took a moment to have a brief laugh, but we got serious again.

"You know, Bree, I don't feel right doing this anymore. I mean, this chick's life already looks bad enough, you know?" I had a different opinion; her life looked great. Well, maybe not great, but a hell of a lot better than my human life. She had a beautiful, clean, cookie-cutter perfect house, an amazing best friend, she was gorgeous, and she had pretty much everything she wanted. Then again, most of those things wouldn't be in her possesion much longer.

She had everything I wished I had (except loving parents- one thing we had in common was the lack of parental love). And that was most likely why I didn't feel much sympathy for her- so she had a pervert as a big brother and a crappy mom. I would've traded lives with her any day. But the one thing I was surprised to learn about this girl was that she didn't complain one bit- in fact, she found clever ways to tip-toe her way around the situations when they got too hard for her to handle, whether it be asking to stay at Renesmee's house, or disregarding the situation altogether, and I admired her for that.

Renesmee was very similar to Claire- on the outside she had a perfect life, but she had her hardships too. The only difference was that rather than sneaking her way out of things, she would put on her poker face and keep her feelings bottled up completely.

"We don't have a choice."

"But what did she do? Nothing. Honestly, what did Renesmee do? What did any of them do? What's Victoria's deal anyway?"

"Diego-"

"And really, what's up with Riley's plan? He wants everything to be as complex and unnecesary as possible. I mean, really, why do so many innocent people have to get hurt in the process?"

I did agree with that; Riley was definitely an inexperienced dumbass who's plans failed on more than one occasion. He couldn't even keep Renesmee as a girlfriend long enough for us to attack, and Diego and I both knew Renesmee was becoming suspicious. We stopped him before he could carry on anymore with his dumb plan by telling him to send her flowers- she wasn't stupid, and she'd probably wonder where he got her address from. We decided that she'd probably dump him soon after concluding that he had stalkerish tendencies, and it worked. Diego and I should have been crowned the ring leaders a long time ago.

"Diego, what can we do about it without us getting killed? I mean, it sucks, I know, but we've got our own lives to worry about. Besides, we were innocent people too before all this, weren't we? It just happens, dude, and we just weren't that lucky."

"You sure have a negative way of seeing things, Bree."

"Its not negative, Diego- its life." We buried ourselves deeper in the bushes as Kyle strode out to his car, and realization hit me square in the face.

"Diego! He's on his way to La Push! This is the perfect time!"

"Where's Renesmee's phone?"

"With Riley! Hurry, we've got to tell him!"

I couldn't believe our perfect opportunity. I hope the Swans were prepared for what was coming.

**Confused? Good.**

**Okay, guys. Nessie needs your help. Right now, our favorite little puppy remains nameless, and, being an author who is terrible with names, I need some assistance. Kyle was a no-brainer, but I've put all the time and thought I possibly could into what to name her, and came up blank. Anyone wanna give it a shot? If not, I'll have to resort to Google. And we all know what happens when you use Google...**

**Anywho, review and leave a name if you have a good one. It just has to fit the description Renesmee gave. Please make it unique, but not too out there. We don't want another crazy name like Renesmee on our hands. ;) **


	15. Chapter 15

**Heyyyy, everyone! Thanks for the great reviews and all the opinions on our little puppy's name. I thought they were all adorable. Everyone had really good ideas, especially Kioshie. I thought that would be really cool, so I tried to stick that idea into the story. But, Pinky, you are just too much. How lucky did I get to have this girl read my little story? I saw your profile and almost cried- you are unbelievable, girl. So I came up with a name that is in your honor! I hope everyone is satisfied with her name, and if you're not, you'll have Pinky to answer to. ;)**

**This was an emotional chapter to write, and I hope you guys cry as much as I did when I wrote it :'(**

**Okay, I'm done talking. Enjoy, my loves!**

"So what do _you_ think, Mom?"

"About what?" she asked as she stretched across my bed. She was helping me with my scrapbook in my room, gluing a picture of me and my puppy on the large page. I had trouble avoiding the page that contained me and Jacob, but I managed to sneak it past her.

"About the puppy's name. You're the only one who hasn't said anything about it."

"I really don't know. Why don't you just make this a lot easier on yourself and name her Fluffy or something?"

"Because, Mom, she isn't just a normal puppy. She's different."

"Oh, yes, that sure isn't a normal dog," she said sacrastically as the puppy scratched her ear with her hind leg.

"Mom, can you just help me? She's really special, and I want her name to be special as she is."

"Well, it's _your_ dog. What have you come up with?"

"Claire thought I should name her something like Lexi, or Lilac. I thought Cassandra was pretty cute, too. And Ja- my friend thought I should name her Addison, and I loved that. But I was thinking- what about Esme?" Mom froze, then gulped and looked at me.

"Where'd you get that from?"

"Well, my name's Renesmee, and the end of my name is Esme. I just thought that t would be kinda adorable if her name were apart of my name." She didn't respond, and I didn't know what to say, so it was silent for a few minutes.

"You want her name to be special? How about Analeesa?"

"Lisa?" I asked, wondering what was so special about that name.

"No, _Ah_-nel-lee-sa. Analeesa. It's French for grace." I gasped; I loved it. It was pretty, foreign, and classy. Perfect.

"Its beautiful. What makes that name so special, Mom? Not that its not a good name, it's gorgeous, but-"

"I just always loved that name. When I was younger, about fifteen or sixteen, I always wanted my daughter to be named Analisa if I had one."

"Why isn't that my name?"

"I thought of a new name when I was pregnant with you. Renesmee's a combination of my mom's name and your father's mom's name." Her eyes darted around the room as she said this; I could tell it was making her uneasy. So that's why she was acting so wierd when I brought up the name Esme.

"Analeesa!" I called, testing the name to see how it flowed. Her ears perked, but she didn't turn around. "It's too long..."

"What if we call her Ana for short?"

"Ana!" she turned completely and barked, wagging her tail.

"I think she likes it," Mom said, a slow grin forming on her face. I smiled too.

"You wanna be named Analeesa?" I asked, and she barked a happy-seeming response.

Mom ran a hand through her hair and gave a full-blown smile. She bent down and scooped the pup- Analeesa, into her arms.

"Welcome to the family, Ana."

"I've got to tell Claire! She finally has a name!" I reached for my phone, then I remembered I didn't have it. "Mom, can I use your phone?"

"I think Claire's here, baby," Mom said, putting Ana down and gluing another picture in the scrapbook. "I hear someone downstairs."

I ran down the stairs to find Claire in our living room, making wierd sniffing sounds. She had just set a box down on the coffee table and was turning to leave.

"Oh, hey, Doodle!" I said, advancing to give her a hug. She turned and glared at me with a violent, frightening stare, black mascara-stained tears running down her face. Her eyes were puffy, her face was red, and she clutched her stomach as if she were sick.

"Don't you fucking touch me," she growled, her voice thick with a mixture of sadness and anger. I blinked in confusion, pulling my hand away.

"What happened? Are you okay? Claire, you have to tell me what's wrong!"

"I don't have to tell you anything after what you did. Does 'best friend' mean _anything_ to you, Renesmee?" That was the first time she had ever directly called me by my real name.

"I- I don't understand-"

"Just don't talk to me. Ever. Do you have any idea how much this has ruined my life?" 

"No, because I don't have any fucking idea what you're talking about!" I snapped. Why would she think I would ever do something to hurt her? I had no idea what was going on!

For a long time, Claire was silent. She stared at me with that same look in her eyes, then broke into loud, echoing sobs and buried her face into my shoulder.

"Mmmph mmmmh!" she screamed into my shoulder. I rubbed the back of her head gently.

"What?"

"_He's dead_!" she cried, finally legible. My heart stopped. Who could be dead? Was it someone from the pack? Embry? ...Quil? _Jacob_?

"Oh my God," I muttered. "Who's dead, Claire?" I shook her rather violently, but she only cried harder. My breathing became ragged and my throat dried up. I yelled to my mom that I was taking Claire home and picked Claire up by the waist and hoisted her onto my shoulder, running outside and flinching as the pelts of rain hit my arm. I was used to the rain, but it was really coming down, almost like hail. I put her in the passenger seat and hopped into my own seat, driving down to La Push as fast as I could. The whole ride there, Claire had her face buried in her hands, sniffing audibly.

When I pulled up to La Push, I was utterly relieved to see Jacob and Quil sitting outside on the porch of Emily's house, but I freaked again when I saw Quil in the same position as Claire was. Claire refused to leave the car, so I got out and ran staright to Jacob and Quil. I noticed that everyone had been muttering and shuffling around, just as stirred up as I was.

"I didn't mean to," Quil sobbed. "Dammit, I know know what the hell I was thinking! Jake, I didn't mean to!" He was literally in hysterics, prattling illegibly and crying. Jake was comforting him, mumbling reassurances that seemed to have no affect on him.

"What happened?" I asked Jake, touching his shoulder. He moved it off swiftly. My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion.

"Jake?"

"Why couldn't you just come to me, Ness?" he asked, dissapointment in his eyes.

"Jake, I have no idea what you're talking about! I don't know what anyone's talking about anymore!"

"Did you send Quil this?" he asked, showing me a message from Quil's phone. I looked at the message, and read it again, and again.

_Hey, Quil! Its Ness. I just wanted to let you know whats been going on with Claire, because I think you have a right to know. Claire's older brothers been touching her, and shes traumatized. I didnt know what to do or who to come to, so I came to you. Its really been upsetting her, and I cant stand to see him anymore after what hes done. Can you help?_

"What?" I asked in a daze, feeling the same way I felt the night I was drunk...

_The night I was drunk._

_That_ was Claire's secret? That was why she tensed whenever he came in the room? It all made sense now. I was so shocked, I didn't bother to tell Jake that I didn't have my phone. I finally could piece it all together.

"Quil... you-?"

"_I didn't mean to_!" he boomed, hitting the ground with a fist and leaving a tiny fracture in the cement. "You have no idea... no _idea_ what happened to me when I read that! I just... lost control..." He began spazzing out soon, and Paul came to get him. He took him in the kitchen to cool him off, and I took his place, my head shaking.

"Jake, why did he kill him? I mean, that's horrible what Kyle was doing to Claire, but-"

"Ness, you just don't understand. I completely feel where Quil is coming from. If I ever found out someone was doing something like that to you..." he completed his sentence with a growl.

"Where is Kyle?"

"He's at the hospital, but we got the call a couple hours ago. Kyle's mom and sister are there, but Claire left when she found out. I guess it was too hard for her..."

"Jake, I don't know what happened... I really don't. I didn't send that message. I didn't even _know_ that had been going on..." 

"Ness, I know you're freaked, but you can tell me the truth. I know you were trying to do what's best by telling someone, but you told the wrong person. You made a mistake, that's all. It's not your fault."

The tears came harder as I grasped his arm. "Jake, I didn't send it, I swear! I haven't had my phone for two weeks!"

"I think you should get some sleep and let us handle this, Ness... I know this must be hard on you."

"Jake-"

"I'll go get Claire, and we'll take her home." 

Bree's POV

"Mom, this isn't my fault!"

"Then who's fault is it, Claire? Tell me that."

"It's Kyle's fault, obviously! Why can't you get that through your head!"

We waited out here past midnight waiting for Claire's mother and Kayllie to return from the hospital, watching Claire sit on the couch and cry, and it was worth the wait. Claire's mom started harrassing her the minute she saw her sitting in the living room on the couch. It was the first time I saw Claire's mother's full body, and she was a bit chunky and had freckles that dotted her arms.

So far, the plan was going perfectly. Kyle was dead, check. Blondie and her mom were going at it again, check. Now there was just one more vital element to the plan...

Diego protested the whole thing. He didn't watch when Quil tore Kyle apart, and even commented that he wanted to help when the rest of his pack were trying to pry Quil off. It was unsettling to watch, but it had to happen. But I didn't imagine Claire would be as upset as she was about his death. Or maybe she was just upset that her boyfriend had killed someone. It would be interesting to find out how that crime turned out.

But one thing was for sure, though: Claire's mom hated her. But it was much more serious this time. Here these two were again, in the living room of their perfect home, saying things you'd never think would be coming from such a cute, perfect home. The mother was sitting on the couch again, her eyes red and puffy too.

"I am so sick of you being such a fucking attention whore! Your brother's dead, and you still won't stop blaming him for mistakes that you've made!"

"And what mistake did I make, Mom? I didn't scream loud enough when he was upstairs in my room? I have a boyfriend who actually cares enough about me to even confront him? Please, tell me where I went wrong."

"I've had enough of your smart ass mouth, Claire. I've never had any trouble with Kyllie or Kyle!"

"That's because you _loved_ them! I'm no one to you, Mom! You don't know how I hard I always tried to get you to love me! You don't know how much it hurt to see you hugging them, and telling them everything was going to be okay when they were upset. Telling them how proud you were of them, and how lucky you were to have them... when did I ever get that from you, Mom? Why don't you love me?" Her tears were flowing furiously down her face, which had turned an even more vibrant shade of red. Her body was shaking from the violent sobs.

Her mother took a long drag of her cigarette, blew the smoke straight into Claire's face, and replied with, "Claire, you were a mistake. A mistake in as many ways possible." Claire paused her sobbing to stare at her mother in disbelief. Kayllie, who had been eavesdropping from the kitchen, dropped the pan she was holding. Even Diego and I exchanged a suprised glance. How heartless could a person be to their own child?

"It was a mistake when I got pregnant with you, and it was a mistake that I didn't get you out of me before you turned into _this_. Not one good thing has come out of you, Claire. You were always such a whiny brat. I tried my hardest to give you everything, Claire and you have it. So why do you complain so fucking much?" She took another drag, blew it out, and continued.

"You think I didn't know when you snuck out all the time to see your boyfriend. You think I didn't know when you ditched classes. But I knew everything, Claire."

"Then why didn't you say anything?" Claire whispered.

"I didn't care. You're the one who's screwing up your life, and that has nothing to do with me. But when you start screwing up your brother's life and stealing his college money, I have a problem with it." Claire's mouth dropped open, and her mother responded with, "Yep. I knew that too. Claire, I'm not stupid. But I wasn't surprised you were doing it. But I _was _surprised when you had the _nerve_ to try to blame him for something stupid as violating you... I don't know where you created that lie in that tiny brain of yours, but-"

"Mom, it wasn't a lie! Why would I lie about that?"

"Your brother was a people person, but he never did anything like that, Claire, and you know it."

"Why don't you believe me? How could you just take his side?"

"Because I know my son, Claire! You can stop with the lying because its getting old."

"Mom-"

"He's dead, Claire. If you were being so affected by him 'touching you', you don't have anything to worry about anymore, do you? He's gone. That's what you wanted, isn't it?" Claire scowled at the floor, a couple of stray tears dripping from the tip of her nose. She still didn't say anything.

"Claire, I don't know how much more I can take. I'm sick of walking into my house and seeing you with that smug look on your face. I'm sick of your attitude and you being so incompassionate. I want you out of my house." Claire looked up, her face scrunched in disbelief.

"_What_?" Her mother shrugged. "I don't understand..."

"What don't you understand? I want you to pack up your stuff and leave. If you don't do it, I'll do it for you."

"M-Mom!"

"You killed your brother, Claire. I don't want murderers in my house. You're not my daughter anymore."

Claire folded her arms across her stomach, looking as if she were ready to explode with anger and sadness and any other unpleasant emotion possible. Her sister noticed this probably because she ran to Claire and gave her a hug, giving me my first good look at her.

Kayllie looked like she was in her early twenties, about twenty-one. Her hair was dirty blonde, not the same as the rest of the family's pure golden hair. She looked a lot like Claire; she had bangs that rested on her eyelashes, same round, blue eyes, same innocent, yet badass style, same heart-shaped, Barbie-doll face, and it was then that I realized that Claire really looked up to her.

"Mom, you don't meant that," Kayllie said, hugging her sister tighter.

"Kayllie, stay out of this."

"Why are you doing this to her? You can't just disown her, Mom."

"She's lying to my face, Kayllie. No daughter of mine would lie to me."

"Are you kidding? I've lied to you plenty of times, and so has Kyle."

"Kayllie, stop it."

"And you know what, Mom? I don't think she's lying. You think you know Kyle? Did you know Kyle used to look up girls' skirts? Drew penises on the walls at school? Flirted with anything that had boobs?"

"Kayllie, I said _stop it_."

"And actually, I've seen the way he used to look at her. Mom, you're not being fair. Compared to what Kyle and I have done in the past, Claire's probably actually been the best." The girls' mother stared at the wall for a long time, not moving.

"Get out, Claire," she said, still frozen in the same position. Claire stared at the woman in disbelief, then shuffled upstairs when she realized that her mother wouldn't be yelling out, "_You got Punk'd_!" anytime soon. Kayllie followed close behind her, so me and Diego ran around th corner and climbed up the tree for a good view of the bedroom window.

Claire was stretched across her bed, face down. Tendrils of golden hair splayed around her as her body convulsed in more violent tears. Kayllie sat next to her and stroked her back softly, small tears rolling down her face as well.

"Kayllie, where am I supposed to go?" she asked, her voice thick with tears and sadness.

"You can stay with me if you want, honey," she replied, moving a stray piece of hair out of Claire's face. But we knew that wouldn't work out; Blondie couldn't go a day without seeing her wolf-boy. Imprinting sounded like a rather irritating process, if you ask me.

"Kay, you know I can't do that... what about Quil?"

"Well, stay with your friend... Nessie. You said you practically live over there anyway..."

"Kay, she's the whole reason this happened. I can't go there..."

"How is this her fault?"

"She's the one who told Quil about Kyle, and she knew what would happen if he found out!"

"Claire, I'm sure she didn't mean to. Best friend's don't do things like that purposely."

"Well, she was never really my best friend. It was a mistake for me to trust her. I don't even know how she could've found out..." I shook my head. Any minute now she's going to remember the party.

"Was she screwing with my head while I was drunk?" Claire muttered to herself.

"What was that?"

Nothing. I just realized she was even less of a friend than I thought... Can you drop me off at her house really quick?"

"...Ummm, sure."

Ness POV

I was woken up by the sound of Ana's squeaky yapping in my ear.

"Shhhh, Ana..." I whispered, stroking her head in an attempt to calm her. I looked at the clock in irration and discovered it was two in the morning. What was she being so loud about? 

I had already lost enough sleep today. I called Claire's cell from my mother's phone all night, but she ignored me. My mother asked me what had been going on, and I subtley explained that Claire's brother had passed, and nothing else. Mom knowing about the wolves too would be a little too much for one night.

"Shhh!" Ana didn't quiet down. Instead, she hopped onto thhe chair below my window and began to bark into the open air. I sleepily dragged myself to the window and saw Claire standing there, waiting with her arms crossed. Her her was messy, her face was red and puffy, and she was wearing an old sweat suit, something she'd never usually wear in public. I climbed out of the window and shimmied down the tree. I wasn't brave enough to just fly out of the window, even though I was capable of jumping down without getting a scratch.

"Hi, Claire," I said, not knowing what to say.

"Don't you think it would have been a better idea to let me in? It's freezing."

"Sorry. You wanna come in?"

"No, this'll be quick. I felt it would be more appropriate to end this in a professional manner."

"End what?" 

"What do you think?" Oh, God. She couldn't be serious about this.

"Claire, you can't do this... please. I'm just as surprised about this as you are."

"Are you? You're the only one who knew, Ness."

"I _didn't_ know! You never told me!"

"Oh, please, don't think I don't know how you tried to get me wasted so I'd tell you."

"Claire, I-" Wait, how did she know that?

"Ness, I can't believe you'd do this to me. Usually a terrible friend would spread a few rumors, not kill someone's brother!"

"Shhh-" I said, trying to quiet her. We had easily irritable neighbors, and things were bad enough right now.

"Don't shush me! I'm not your fucking dog!"

"We named her already. Her name's Ana. Analeesa."

"It's a beautiful name. It sucks that she has to be stuck with you, though." I felt tears forming in the corners of my eyes again.

"Claire, please, you can't do this to me-"

"_I _can't do this to _you_? Ness, I'm _homeless_! My brother's dead! My mom hates me even more than she usually does! My mom just told me that she wishes she aborted me, and_ I _can't do this to _you_?"

"What do you mean you're homeless?"

"My mom kicked me out, and I have nowhere to go anymore. I'll probably stay at Quil's..."

"Claire, just stay with me."

"Why would I stay with you? You're the reason this has happened!"

"Claire-"

"I hate you, Renesmee. I hope you have a fabulous life without me. Maybe you can find someone else to stab in the back." She ripped something from her neck and tossed it at me, turning to leave. I bent down and picked up the object, observing it in confusion. It was Claire's side of our friendship necklace. I frantically raked my brain for a way to get her to stay and talk with me about this. This couldn't be happening.

"Wait!" I called, grabbing her arm. She looked at me disgustedly.

"What?" I took a deep breath, rubbed my hands together, and pressed my palm into her cheek.

"What the h-" she started, then her face drifted into space as I filled her mind with memories of our friendship. I reminded her of how we spent every day together, had private jokes that nobody knew, how we knew everything about each other, and never went anywhere without the other. I showed her that we had always been best friends, and there was never a time when I had back stabbed her or wanted to intentionally cause her pain.

"Oh my God," she whispered as I pulled my hand away. She didn't look angry anymore; she looked conflicted.

"That was my power that I had never gotten to show you. Please, Claire. You've got to believe me."

"Ness, I'm sorry. I want to believe you I really do... but my brother's dead. That's all the proof I need." She headed to her red Mini Cooper parked in the driveway, where I could see another blonde sitting in the front seat.

"Claire!' I called. "Claire, please come back!" The driver hesitated, looking at me and then saying something to Claire. Claire shook her head and stared at me, no wave, no smile, no gesture of any kind. Her eyes stayed locked with mine until she turned the corner and I could no longer see her anymore.

***wipes tear* Whew. That was tough, but I got through it. Please review, and tell me how you like the story so far! I hope everyone's enjoying. Pinky, I hope your honor was not under-glorified, with all this death and broken friendships :)**

**I hope I didn't disappoint! :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey, everyone! I'm sorry for taking so long, guys! I've been really busy, and haven't had time to go on the computer! Sorry, everyone! Hope this makes up for you This has been tons of fun to write, and a serious stress reliever! Please, review and tell me if you're having just as much fun reading this! **

**We have a reference from the New Moon movie! First to find it gets a plate of virtual cookies :)**

**ENJOY AND REVIEW!**

Cesar Millan's voice echoed through my head as I stared blanky at the TV.

"I am the Dog Whisperer," he said as Ana barked at the sight of him on the television. She had taken to Animal Planet lately. I buried my head in my pillow to block out the sound of his voice. She nudged me as if to tell me to stop crying and watch with her, but I hadn't been in the mood for much of anything lately.

Since the whole Kyle-epidemic, which was almost week ago, I haven't been myself at all. In fact, I had been the complete opposite. My lights had been turned off, my window shades had been closed shut (not that much sunlight had been coming in to begin with- this was Forks, for God's sake), and I had gained four pounds from the cartons of ice cream I had devoured. My stuff was scattered all over the place, rather than neat and tidy as usual. I didn't even bother coordinating my outfits like I usually did; I threw on whatever I grabbed in my closet. It was my first weekend since school that I spent without Claire, and it was miserable. Ana invested most of her time licking up tears from my face, but I assume that became an annoying job and she turned her attention back to Animal Planet. One thing she never did, though, was leave my side, and I was extremely grateful for that.

Jacob had talked to me a couple times over the phone, but Quil was still freaked over what happened with Kyle and Jake needed to be there for support. I understood, but it was hard not seeing him for so long. Claire hadn't been to school all week, so I had been sitting alone in my classes, eating lunch alone, and driving home by myself. I didn't want to talk to anyone unless I was directly asked something. I had hit the friendship jackpot with Claire and that was out the window. Who could replace her?

My mother knew me well enough not to ask for details; knowing that me and Claire in an altercation was enough information for her. But she finally tried to intervene when she found the note I left her on the counter asking to pick up more ice cream, which had been the only form of communication I'd had all week.

"Ness, this really isn't healthy," she said when I gave her permission to enter my room. She picked up an empty ice cream carton I had thrown on the floor. "This has been really hard on you, huh, baby?"

I slowly bobbed my head up and down in response. She sat on my bed and ran her fingers through my curly, presently unruly hair. "You know, I went through something like this. I lost someone I really cared about, too. But I was able to get through it, and I know for sure you can do the same." I didn't say anything. After a minute, she bounced on my bed a bit and tickled my side. I still didn't respond.

"Ness, I really hate seeing you like this... You wanna come visit Tanya and Kate in Denali with me? We're going hunting, too. We'll be there a couple days, so it'll be like a mini-vacation. It'll be some bonding time for us. We never have any mommy-daughter time anymore." I really felt bad when she said that; I _had_ been isolating her a lot since I went to school and met Claire and Jacob. But I really wasn't in the mood for a cheerful hunting trip.

"No thanks, Mom," I grumbled in response.

"Please, honey? It'll be like old times. And there are plenty of mountain lions out there with your name on it..." Ana barked in irritation; she was not a happy camper when she couldn't concentrate on her shows.

"Okay, okay! Sheesh, Ana's become quite the little bodyguard, hasn't she?" I gave a weak smile, and she kissed me on the head and left the room, giving a sigh.

"I'll be back in a couple days. If you need anything, call me. You know where everything is." Mom had left me home alone plenty of times, and I'd proved to her everytime that she could trust me not to throw wild parties or anything of that nature. "Love you."

I immediately regretted the selfish decision to stay home; my mother and I never spent any time together anymore, and I could tell she was heartbroken. But at least I had some time alone in the house. I could cry my eyes out again without any worries from anyone other than Ana. Before I proceded to do so, there was a tap on my window. And again. And again.

"Ness!" a familiar voice hissed. My head raised, and so did Ana's ears as the voice called again. All of a sudden, Jacob appeared in my window, out of breath. For the first time in a week, a fully smiled and ran to hug him. Even Ana gave him a couple kisses.

"J-Jake, what are you doing here?" I stuttered, still hanging onto his chest. The tears began to actively pour down my face once more. He cupped my face in his hands and frowned.

"Ness, stop crying, please," he pleaded, softly kissing my lips. "I can't stand to see you like this."

"I'm sorry," I muttered.

"You're apologizing for crying?" he asked with a small smile.

"I guess I am..."

"You know, you remind me of one of my best friends," he said, squeezing me into a hug. "You know, she actually lived here a few years ago..."

"Jake, you don't know how glad I am to see you... I've been going through hell all week. I didn't know who to turn to..."

"So you turned to Ben and Jerry?" he asked, pointing to an ice cream carton on the floor. I playfully smacked his chest and he laughed.

"What about Quil? Is he in jail or something?"

"No, his mom doesn't know he killed Kyle. We told her that it was an accident, but she thinks its Claire's fault."

"Why?" He snorted.

"Have you _met_ her mom?" I shook my head. Come to think of it, I had never met her. It was wierd that I had never met my best friend's mother.

"Besides... he's been punishing himself enough. He won't stop beating himself up over it."

"How did you find me, Jake?" I asked, tracing the contours of his bare abs with my finger. I rather enjoyed the fact that he went shirtless most of the time.

"Well, I tried to ask Claire, but she really didn't want to talk... but Kayllie knew." So _that's_ who was in the car with Claire...

"How is Claire anyway? Is she okay?" I inquired fervishly. Claire meant a lot to me no matter what kind of fight we were in, and I would always be concerned with her well-being. 

"Claire's fine, but she really misses you."

"I miss her too, Jake. I wish this wasn't happening. Who is she with?"

"She's staying with Kayllie in her hotel, but when she goes back to New York, Claire's moving in with Quil."

"Jake, she knows she can stay here. My mom and I love when she stays! Can you do something, maybe?"

"Like what, Ness? There's nothing I can do. She's really serious about this." I sighed and felt myself beginning to cry.

"Ness, please..." 

"I'm sorry, Jake..."

"You wanna do something else to take your mind off all this?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that might be a good idea..."

So for the next hour or so, we watched The Notebook, Analeesa cuddled between me and Jake on my bed. Finally I felt like everything was going to be okay. I still had Jake, Ana, and my mom to love me, even if Claire and I were having problems right now. I exhaled in content and kissed Jacob on the cheek softly. My lips moved to his and locked there for a while as I enjoyed the warm taste of his mouth. I never wanted the feeling to end, and a strange feeling engulfed me. I don't know what came over me, but I suddenly threw the fleece blanket off of us and straddled his chest, grabbing fistfuls of his hair in my hands. I began to break out into a sweat; the heat radiating from his body was over-powering. I reached for my shirt and prepared to yank it over my head, but he stopped me.

"Ness... what are you doing?"

"You don't realize how hot you are, do you?" He sighed and shook his head.

"Ness..." I laughed as I realized his misinterpretation and took my shirt off anyway.

"No, your skin. What are you, like 105 degrees?" 

"I _am _pretty hot," he admitted jokingly, pulling me into another kiss. I drifted off into my own little perfect world, with me and Jacob in blissful happiness. Which lasted about thirty seconds before I heard a voice coming from downstairs that stopped my heart.

"Ness, I just remembered I left my cell when I got there, and I came back to get it. I picked up a rabbit on the way back for you if you w-"

I froze as my mom appeared at the doorway, her eyes wide in shock.

I gulped and spoke timidly. "Ahem, Jacob? Meet my mom."

...

Bree's POV

"Agent Cool Breeze?"

"Yes, Agent Diablo?" 

"I couldn't be more bored right now..."

"Agreed." Diego and I had been spying on Renesmee and Claire non-stop all week under Riley's instruction, and not much had been going on other than crying. We were currently at Emily's house, where Claire had come to visit Quil, and it was incredibly boring. Riley was beginning to piss me off; he had too many pointless plans that hardly helped us. Why couldn't we just attack?

I needed to talk to Diego, so I sighed and grabbed his hand, running out to the woods and laying in the grass on my back. He layed down next to me, his hands propped behind his head.

"Diego, I think I'm starting to see what you mean... I mean, it's hard watching these girls going through this. Losing your best friend really has to suck. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

"So we're... best friends?"

"Of course, Diego. What did you think we were?" Diego blew a stray piece of hair from in front of his face.

"Bree?"

"Yeah?" 

"Remember that time I almost murdered Raoul, 'cause I told you he was being a douche?"

"Yeah..." 

"I almost killed him because he was talking about... making a move on you."

"Ewww..." I cringed at that thought. It was silent for a bit.

"Don't you get what I'm trying to say, Bree?" I thought for a while, then replied when I came up blank.

"Naw, not really."

"Bree, I was jealous. I didn't _want_ him to, because I was jealous." 

"Of what?" He sighed and shook his head. "I don't understand where you're going with this, D."

"I- I..."

"What?" He exhaled again, rolled over, and leaned over me. I blinked as he bent down and kissed my lips softly, then again. He kissed me one more time, but didn't break the kiss. It was much rougher this time; he grabbed the back of my head and pulled me even closer to him. I smiled against his lips; I had never thought of Diego in this way, but my mind had lingered and I was very open to the idea of us being something more than friends.

Just when I was getting comfortable here with Diego, I could hear someone screaming in the distance, "Jacob Black, you're gonna regret ever even seeing my daughter when I find you! Your furry ass is gonna be hanging over my fireplace!" Diego and I broke apart quickly, pulling ourselves up off the ground.

"What the hell?"

Suddenly, something zoomed past us so fast _I _couldn't even see it. But I smelled it, and the russet fur that flew in my mouth said it all. A brown haired female vampire ran close behind him, growling and snarling away.

"Is that... _Bella_?"

"It has to be..."

"Oh my God," Diego muttered. "Riley actually does know what he's talking about. It-it worked!" I smiled and winked at him.

"Agent Diablo? Phase Two, complete." With that, I pulled him into another kiss.

**Too short? I'm sorry. I tried to make this exciting as possible... anyway, this story has been so much fun to write. Plus, I have a new honorable reviewer that I would like to mention! And the award goes to... Kioshie! *applause* Please redeem you cookies and coolness points! :) I have another who will be mentioned next chapter as well!**

**Wanna be an honorable mention like Kioshie and Pinky (my new FFN bestie)?**

**All you have to do is review, and we'll all be happy :)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hola! I'm back, and I'm super stoked for Thanksgiving! I'm a big fan of apple pie ;) What are you guys thankful for? I'm thankful for the awesome reviews I get for my story! But I'll be even more thankful if more of you review! But who am I to be so greedy... anyway, on with the story!**

I raised my head from the pillow I had been crying in to see Analeesa scratching at my bedroom door, eager to get out. It was the next morning, and I hadn't seen my mother or Jacob since that terrifying moment. After my failed attempt at an introduction, my mom stared at us with rage in her eyes.

_"Ness, get away from him," she'd instructed me. I climbed off of him as I was told and brushed off my pajama pants, but Jake wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me close to him._

_"Jacob, get your hands off of her!" she yelled. How did she know his name?_

_"Bella, is there something you're not telling me?" he asked, scratching his head. How did they know each other?_

_"This is my daughter, Jacob." His eyes furrowed in confusion as he looked at me._

_"How-"_

_"It doesn't matter how, just get the hell out of here before I snap your neck." He didn't move an inch- he just continued to glare at her._

_"How do you know my mom, Jacob?" I whispered to him, which was pointless because my mom could still hear. He didn't answer, so I directed the same question to her. "How do you know him?"_

_"I don't have anything to explain to you, young lady. Jacob, I don't know what the hell you're thinking! You're lucky I don't tell your-" She glared at him for a second before realization struck her between the eyes. She bit her lip and began to rub her temples._

_"You've got be kidding me..." I began to feel awkward, so I put my shirt back on. "I can't believe you Jacob. This is just... what makes you think this is okay? Did she tell you that she's really _four_?"_

_"I _know _how old she is. I figured it was okay if you could date someone who was 109..."_

And after that, hell broke loose. Mom lunged for him and they both tumbled out of my open window, Jake phased, and the rest is history. I tried to chase after them, yelling, "Stop!" all the while, but I knew that unlike me, they could go on for hours and I would eventually have to stop. So I trudged back home, tears running down my face and mud on my shoes. My first instinct when I arrived home was to call Claire and tell her all about it, but since that wasn't possible, all I could do was cry. I had no one to talk to anymore. Ana had given up on making me feel better when she realized the impossiblity of my joy. Anything could've happened out there. My mom could have _killed_ Jacob, or maybe even vice versa.

Ana scratched the door with more urgency than usual, adding a whine into the mix.

"What's wrong, Ana?" She barked a response, so I stood and wiped my eyes. I opened the door for her and she darted from the room like a bullet, zooming dow the stairs and to the front door. She only did that when someone was at the door. My mind began to wander as I pondered who it could be... was it Mom? Jake? Claire? Did she want to make up with me, _finally_? A smile crossed my face as I thought of hugging my best friend again, having fun and messing around like always. Just like old times.

There were a couple of raps on the door as a tinkly, fairy-like voice called my mom's name. I froze at the base of the staircase when I heard the unrecognized voice.

"Bella?" The knock came a few more times. "_Beeee_-lla!" Ana and I both cocked our heads to the side in unison. The door opened slowly, which brought me regret not locking the door last night in hopes that my mother would come home. A small, pale vampire stood on my doorstep, with bright golden eyes, eyes I thought only my mother possessed. She had short, spiky hair that stuck out randomly on her head. She had a flower tucked behind her ear, and a very adorable outfit. Totally something I would wear.

"Oh," she muttered in surprise. "Hello." She smiled at me and jumped when Ana ambushed her in happiness. Ana loved visitors, but I wasn't too sure about this one. She seemed harmless, but caution was something of value for me lately.

The vampire giggled as she pet Analeesa's head lightly, then scooped her into her arms. Ana eagerly sniffed and licked at her face.

"Put her down!" I snapped, and she did so quickly.

"I'm sorry," she said, still grinning. "What's your name?"

"Why do you care?" I said rudely, taking out my disappointment on our visitor. She giggled again.

"I'm Alice. Alice Cullen. I'm sorry for upsetting you, I'm just looking for a friend."

"Bella?"

"Yes, and it's kind of an emergency. Do you happen to know who she is or where I can find her? I've been all over the place looking for her." I blinked a few times. Once again, my mom left me out of the loop, and now I was faced with an awkward situation in which I don't know what to do. Instead of answering her question, I pointed out the obvious.

"You're a vampire." She flinched, most likely surprised that I knew. I could recognize a vampire from a mile away.

"Um, y-yes. I am. How did you know?"

"How do you know my mo- Bella?" I asked, ignoring her question. I immediately changed my words- I didn't know who this was, and I couldn't give her too much information.

"She's... an old... friend of our family. Listen, this is really urgent, and I need to find her soon. Do you know if you can take me to her or maybe call her?" I coughed a little.

"Ummm... sure. I can call her." I cautiously walked upstairs, warning her not to move or touch anything. She laughed. I rushed to my room to grab my cell phone and ran back downstairs, expecting to see her sharpening a knife or making a bonfire in my living room. But then I realized I was being irrational. She was sitting on my couch with Analeesa in her lap, stroking her belly.

I dialed my mother's cell and put the phone up to my ear quickly, eager to get her out of my house. I turned my back to the vampire- Alice- when I saw her staring at me with a wierd look in her eyes, as if she were trying to remember me. Well, in all my four years of life, I don't ever remember seeing her. And I have a _very_ good memory.

As soon as the phone started ringing, I heard another phone begin to ring at the very same time upstairs.

"Dammit, Mom..." I muttered to myself.

"Mom?" Alice asked curiously.

"Sorry," was all I could think of to say.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Ummm... she left her phone here."

"She still lives here?" she said, mostly to herself.

"... Yeah." We sat in awkward silence for a while. "What did you need to tell Bella? I can tell her for you..." She shifted reluctantly, and I could tell she didn't trust me enough yet. She didn't even know my name. "Is she in some kind of danger?" She turned her head away from me to avoid the questioning in my eyes. "Alice?"

"I... I don't really know-"

"You have to tell me. I'm... " I sighed. I really didn't want to out this to a stranger, especially since the word on the street was that Bella was my sister, but if my mom was in trouble, I needed to.

"I'm Bella's-" My mother couldn't have chosen a better time to walk through the door.

...

Bella's POV

"_Alice_?"

"_Bella_?" I literally screamed with excitement as I collided with Alice, hugging her with all the strength I had in my body.

"Alice, what are you _doing_ here?" Not that I at all minded her being here- in fact, I was ecstatic.

"Finally! I've been turning Forks upside-down looking for you! You're- you're a vampire now?" I bit my lip and put my head down, smiling shyly.

"You look_ beautiful_," she muttered.

"I- I can't believe-! I- I..."

"Sheesh, Bella don't hurt yourself," Alice muttered, laughing before a sudden look of resentment covered her face. "No... I'm still mad at you. We shouldn't be hugging after what happened."

I looked at her in confusion, then sat on the couch. She paced back and forth in front of me, like a scolding parent. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, cut it out, Bella. Did you ever think about how Edward would feel about this?"

It felt like my whole body's senses were cut off completely, and the hole from my chest that I thought had healed was punctured once more. And to make matters worse, Alice hadn't realized and was freely throwing the name around as if it had no affect on me.

"Do you know what happened the last time I saw Edward? He read my mind, and after that, I couldn't believe it! I had never seen someone as upset as he was that day, and of all people, I couldn't believe that _you_ had done that to him! He was heartbroken, Bella!"

"Alice, what are you talking about? _He_ did it to_ me_! He's the one who left me!"

"Please tell me what you were thinking. A _dog_, Bella? He gave you everything and you do that to him? I've had him on suicide watch for the past four years!"

"Why would he commit suicide?"

"Because he loves you Bella!"

"_Then why did he leave_?"

"You _know _why he left!"

"Excuse me?" Ness piped up, reminding me for the first time that she was there. "Would someone like to fill me in on what's going on?"

"Who _is_ that Bella?"

I sighed and grabbed Ness' hand, pulling her next to me. "Alice, this is my daughter. Renesmee."

A shocked look crossed her face. "You didn't."

"Yeah. I did."

"Bella, you cheated on him _and _had a baby with someone else?" What the hell?

"Alice, look at her, for God's sake. Who do you think she looks like?" I pushed Renesmee closer to Alice to give her a better look. She put her hands to Renesmee's face and began to squeeze her flesh in her fingers, stretching it in random directions. Renesmee looked confused but allowed Alice's strange actions to take place.

"She's... Edward's?"

"Of course, Alice. Look at her."

"So... I'm an auntie?" she said, her eyes beginning to widen and her face brightening.

I sighed in frustration. That _would_ be the only thing on Alice's mind at a time like this. "Yes, Alice. You're an auntie."

All of a sudden, she released an ear-splitting shriek that brought Ness' hands to her ears quickly. Alice suddenly grabbed Ness around the waist and picked her up, hugging her tightly.

"How did I not see you in my visions?"

"She's a half-breed, Alice. She's half human, half vampire. Maybe it's something with her genes... I don't know."

"Oh my God, Bella! She's beautiful! You, missy," she said, touching her fingertip to Ness' nose. "Look just like your parents. God, I love you already!"

"Okay, okay, that's enough," I said, focusing on other matters. "What did you say about me cheating?"

"Bella, do we really have to bring this up in front of... Renesmee?" She said the name with a gleeful giggle.

"Alice, just answer me..."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. The wolf you were cheating with? Who I assume to be that Jacob kid?" Renesmee gasped and stared at me coldly.

"_What_? Mom!"

"Heehee... 'Mom'..." Alice said to herself, chuckling.

"You know, Ness, I think you should go to your room for a little while... okay, honey?" She glared at me, then pulled out of Alice's arms and zoomed up the stairs. I would have to straighten this out with her later...

"Alice, where did you hear that?"

"I didn't hear it, I saw it. I had a vision that you were laying there naked, screaming. And there was something there I couldn't see, and the only thing I can't see is werewolf. So that was the only possible conclusion, Bella."

"Alice, I've never, _ever_ cheated on Edward. Are you _sure_ that's the only thing you can't see?"

"Of course, Bella."

"...Even my daughter?"

"Even your- wait..." she looked confused then, putting her index finger in her mouth as her eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

"Think about it, Alice. I've had Renesmee for four years, and you've never had one vision about her?"

"No... but- it couldn't have been..."

"Alice, _please_ don't tell me that you mistook my giving birth as cheating on Edward." She shook her head a little, then looked up at me.

"Oh no... What have I done?"

"Wait, what do you mean what have _you_ done? Didn't Edward read your mind before he broke up with me?" She bit her lip again.

"Well, actually... Rose, Emmett, Jasper, and I kind of... broke you guys up," she nervously confessed. I felt a growl rumbling in the pit of my throat. As much as I loved Alice, I was dying to rip her apart. I had been a single mother for all these years, doing everything for my daughter. It was mind-blowing that my daughter could have easily had her father in her life, annd I still could've had mine, if one little mistake had been avoided.

And I also came to one final conclusion: this hadn't been Edward's fault.

"Bella, I'm so sorry. Honestly." I shook my head.

"Alice, you don't know what it's been like. I've had to do everything for myself. I just really think it would be a good idea if you left. You caused this, and you can't come back and drop by for a visit like nothing ever happened."

"Well, Bella, I actually had a reason for coming. You and Renesmee are in serious danger right now. We just want to help."

"Why should I need your help? I've never needed it before."

"Still the same old, stubborn Bella," she said with a reminiscent smile.

"I didn't ask for a scrapbook memory, I asked you to leave."

"Bella, we're not leaving until you talk to us."

"Us?" I asked, utterly confused. When did this become plural?

"Ummm... well, I didn't come alone, Bella."

**Oooohhh cliffie! Hehe, I hope you enjoyed that, and sorry for the delay. A lot of people have been askig about the amazing vampires nown as the Cullens, so I hope this has satisfied you! More Cullen awesomeness to come, too! My new winner for the awesomest reviewer goes to... *drum roll for me, Pinky***

**sweetsarah! Yayyy! Congrats, here are your virtual cookies :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**I'm baaack! And I'm a very happy camper because I have my Eclipse DVD! I was gonna start this earlier, but you can only imagine why I might have started so late ;) If you don't have your copy yet, run to the store and get it immediately! It's incredible... :D **_**Ahem**_**, anywho, on with the story, my readers! (BTW, just to clear things up, nothing has happened between Bella and Jacob. Alice made a mistake.)**

BPOV

My breath caught in my throat as Alice ran outside and brought someone else with her when she arrived back.

"Oh my god..." I whispered to myself. "This isn't really happening..." I closed my eyes shut tightly to attempt to blink the sight away, but they fluttered open when freezing arms wrapped around my body.

"Bella," a voice that I recognized so well whispered in my ear. It was a voice that I had longed for years to hear again, yet a voice that I had once despised. I didn't really know what to be feeling as this wave of nostalgia rushed through me, so instead I ran my fingers through his hair and simply whispered, "Edward."

For so long I had been dreaming of this moment. Not to hug and kiss him, but to tear at and hit him. To rip him to shreds where he stood for what he made me go through. But I wasn't sure what to feel now other than elation as I stroked the back of his head once more.

We stood there for a good five minutes, enjoying the feel of each other's touch and scent. When we finally broke apart, I got a good look at him. As disheveled as he looked, I must admit he still looked like a Greek god.

He soon began to ramble, which I blankly listened to just to hear the sweet sound of his voice again. "Bella, I know I'm the last person you probably want to see right now, but your safety is the most important thing in the world to me no matter what. I won't disturb you anymore after I'm sure you're safe, and I'm very happy for you and Ja-" I cut him off by grabbing his face in my hands and kissing him, unable to control the urge anymore. Once again, I felt whole, like everything was okay again. Edward was back, and that's all that mattered.

"B-but I thought-" he stuttered in confusion.

"No, Edward. I was never with Jacob. You heard that from Alice, right?" We both stared at her, so she excused herself and ran outside. Too awkward for her, probably.

"Eventually. Bella, I never should've left you. It was the biggest mistake of my life, by far." I pulled him into another hug, and his nose nestled in my hair.

"So what kind of vampire shenanigans have you been getting into without me to nag you?" I asked.

"I could ask you the same question. I could tell you about all the time I've spent sitting around, but all I've really been doing is thinking about you. I can't tell you how much I've missed you."

"I'm pretty sure I missed you a lot more," I challenged with a smirk.

"Prove it." He returned my smirk, and I responded with a kiss, one that really couldn't compete with our first, but was good enough. As we pulled away, I saw that he had his eyes closed tight, as if he were concentrating.

"What?"

"I still can't read your mind."

"Just the way I like it." I kissed his nose and pulled him to the couch, resting my head on his shoulder.

"Where's the chief?" Edward asked with a chuckle. It took a moment for me to realize Edward was referring to my father.

"Charlie's dead," I said, as if he should know. Did Alice fail to see that, too?

"He's _what_?"

"Laurent got to him. I took care of him, though." Edward blinked in surprise, then shook his head.

"This is all my fault," he muttered, lowering his head.

"Don't say that. Its not your fault."

"It wouldn't have happened if I hadn't left, correct?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Then Bella, it's my fault."

"Edward, I got over it years ago. Its fine. Just enjoy this moment, please."

He sighed and pulled me closer. "Okay." I smiled.

"This is a bit of a disappointment..." he said after a while.

"What?" I said, pulling back in offense.

"You look stunning as a vampire, but I can't help but miss old human Bella. It's a shame I'll never get to smell the scent of your blood anymore."

"Does that make me unworthy of your love, now that I have nothing special about me anymore?" I questioned with a playful smile.

"I love you, Bella. I always have. I've never stopped loving you."

"Me either, Edward. I can't say the same for your sister, though." That very moment, Alice entered the room with a worried look on her face. She was scared. Good.

"Speaking of my sister, is there a reason why she's trying to block out her thoughts?"

"Oh, believe me, it's a long story."

"I have all day," he said, and for the first time in four years, I saw him smile his infamous crooked smile. I drifted off for a while before I realized that once again, I had been dazzled by Edward Cullen.

Alice jumped in, trying to avoid the subject as best she could. "Long story short, I made a mistake and you're a daddy. Now can we please just tell her while we're here?"

"I'm a _what_?" he asked, his eyes bugging out of his head.

"Alice is the one who caused this, Edward. She saw me giving birth and thought I was cheating on you in her vision."

"Giving _birth_?" Oops. I had forgotten that Edward was out of the loop with the whole Renesmee thing.

"Ummm... Edward? You remember back when I was human, when we were in my room? And you said you needed to resist, but... you, ahem... _couldn't_?"

He looked embarrased for a while, then shocked. "This can't be possible. Bella, you-?"

"No. _We_ did. She's yours."

"_She_? I have a _daughter_? But-"

"Renesmee. I know it shouldn't be possible, but it was, wasn't it?"

"I can't believe it."

"Well, believe it," I said, smiling and grabbing his hand.

"How sweet," Alice crooned. "Eddie and Bella, reunited." We both scowled at Alice in unison. She put her hands up as if she were being robbed at gun point. "Okay, so maybe it's true that you wouldn't have been separated if not for me, but let's not dwell on that, okay?" We didn't move. "Okay, why don't we focus on showing Eddie his gorgeous daughter? I bet he's dying to see her, right, Edward?"

He looked at me. "Actually, Bella, I would love to see her. I feel horrible for being out of her life for so long, and I would love nothing more than to hold my little girl in her arms and show her that it will be okay." I squeezed his hand.

"Well, you're gonna have to settle for just hugging her, because she's not so little."

"What do you mean?"

"In reality, she's four, but she has a wierd growth rate. She's sixteen." He still looked confused, so I grabbed his hand and took him up the stairs.

"I'll just show you. Ness!" I knocked on her door softly, knowing she would probably be upset at Alice's mistake. "Ness, please open the door. Auntie Alice made a mistake." No response. "Ness, please! Your... your father's here." I smiled at Edward, knowing that Ness would immediately open the door if she knew he were here. But I was wrong. I didn't even hear a flutter. Analeesa wasn't even scrathcing on the door like she always was. I turned the knob, only to find that it was locked. She knew I didn't allow locked doors in our home.

"Renesmee Carlie Sw- Cullen, don't make me bust this door down!" Still no sound.

"Let me try," Edward said in a voice that convinced me that he could handle this whole situation. I had never forgotten how persuasive he could be. "Uh, Renesmee? It's Edward... your father." He looked at me in uncertainty, as if he felt that was a wierd choice in words, but I nodded and smiled in encouragement. "Would you care to open the door? I would very much love to meet you." She was still quiet. This made me a little angry. Here he was, Edward Cullen, standing here in the flesh trying to speak to her, and she ignores us both. I wasn't going to have that. I ripped the knob from the door and it swung open, revealing her room. I waited for her to come out of her closet or wherever she could've been hiding, but there was no movement.

"Where the hell _is_ she?" I screamed, becoming furious.

"Calm down, love," Edward cooed, and it definitely calmed me. I didn't know how long it was since I'd heard that.

"Bella, look," Alice said, which was a surprise, considering I forgot she was here. She held out a note to me. "It was on her bed." I slowly unfolded it and ran my fingers across the ink, and it had smeared a bit. She had to have just written it.

_Mom,_

_I knew you had been lying to me all these years, or at least purposely avoiding the truth. But I never knew you would do that to me and not tell me. I know I had hidden me and Jacob's relationship from you, but that's only fair, considering everything you've kept from me. I've lost my best friend and all my closest friends, Jacob (who knows where he is now), and I have no father. I can hardly handle that, but I tried to go through it because I knew I still had you. But if I can't trust my own mother, who _can_ I trust in this world? I don't know, but all I know is that I can't stay here right now. I have no idea about my past, my family, or my life in general. For all I know, I could've been the reason you and my dad broke up. I don't know where I'll go, but hopefully Alice can help you find my dad, whoever he is, and you can have a normal, happy life. The life you had before I was born. _

_Love always,_

_ Nessie_

"Oh my God," I said, hyperventilating. I looked at the window and saw that it was wide open, and that Analeesa was gone, too. "She's gone."

"Well, maybe she just went to blow off some steam," Alice said, flouncing on Nessie's bed.

"Alice, did you forget the whole reason we came?" Edward said in panic.

"Why did you guys come, anyway?" I asked, cocking my head to the side. That still hadn't been cleared.

"I had a vision," Alice said. "I saw Victoria."

"And...?" Did they not see that I was a vampire now? I could kill Victoria in three seconds flat, and I planned on doing so whenever I caught a glimpse of her again. "You know I can kill Victoria."

"Bella, she's creating an army. Of newborn vampires. She's already made about thirty of them these past four years, and I assume she's been training them. You can't destroy an entire army alone, Bella."

"And if she knows about Renesmee, that will most likely be her first target." An army of vampires? What were we doing standing around then?

"Let's go find her, then!"

"Should I call everyone else? They're at the house." I froze.

"All of them? At... your old house?"

"Yeah, Bella. You want me to call them?"

"Yes, call them," Edward said, stepping in. "The more we have searching, the better." Alice pulled out her cell and dialed a few numbers, putting the phone up to her ear.

"Hello? Rose?... Yeah, we found her. She still lives at the same house... Yeah. Um, Rose? We need some help... believe me, it's a looong story."

...

Victoria's POV

All the Cullens in one? _Jackpot_.

**This felt somewhat disappointing to post. I wasn't really up on my ninja-writing skills (I was a little distracted by my new ECLIPSE DVD! :D), so forgive me if this is a little crappy. Sorry it's so short! Read and review!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, and all the rest! I am sooo ecstatic by all the love I've been recieving! You guys are all great. All my reviewers just made my day. :) I have another reviewer I would like to honor! Where's my drummer girl (a.k.a Pinky)? Drum roll, puhleeeease!**

**...Berrygirl214!**

**Congrats, and thanks for the love! Here's your plate of virtual cookies! :)**

**DarceILuvJason, welcome to the club, girl! I'm so happy to hear that you like it- you have no idea how much it makes my day to hear that people like my story! All 18, huh? That's dedication. You're added to my SUPERFREAKINAWESOME list! Lol, thanks for the love. :)**

**Haley morgan, same to you, girl! Thanks for reading!**

**Anyway, I know I've been late a lot with my updates, including this one, so this chapter will be **_**extended**_**! Oooohhh! Lol! And I also realized that in a few earlier chapters, I accidentally wrote that Ness called her mom from her cell, which she currently doesn't have. I meant to put her home phone. Sorry, guys! We have a new POV introduced later in the chapter! Its a character that wasn't as irrelevant as she seemed... I hope you enjoy, as always! **

**( P.S. I seriously don't know what Claire's last name is! Does anyone? Well, since Emily's her aunt, I made her last name Young. Hehe, I just saw the Wiki page for Twilight and I totally screwed Claire up! Hope no one minds... ;) If you don't like her last name (or anything else I messed up), mentally replace it with whatever you like. :))**

**Here's my holiday present to you all :)**

Ness' POV

Raindrops continued to hit my face as I trudged my way through the forest with absolutely no idea where I was going. I cuddled with Ana inside my jacket, trying to calm her as she shivered with fear and coldness. She had a sweater if her own that my mother had knitted, but it was best not to bring anything that would remind me of her.

The backpack that I had been carrying on my back for over an hour was just beginning to become too much to handle, and the calves of my legs ached and practically begged for a break. I chose a dry-looking spot under a tree and decided to settle here for a break, or at least until I could figure out what I was going to do. I knew if I stayed I may have done or said things that I would regret, so leaving seemed like the best option.

I arranged a few leaves before deciding to sit down, releasing Ana so she could use the bathroom. She skittered off into the distance, making sure I couldn't see her. She ran back quickly in case I had anymore tears to mop up, but I think I had cried myself dry. These past few weeks had been major hell. I had lost my best friend, my boyfriend, and my mother in about a months time. And to top it off, Christmas was coming and I would most likely be alone.

"Ana, I'm sorry about this. All you've been doing is care about me, and I bring you here." I scratched her head apolegetically.

"You know, you've never left me. No matter what you've always stayed right by my side if I needed you. You never blamed me for anything or lied to me. I owe you a lot, Ana." She cocked her head to the side, and I realized how wierd this was.

"I'm this lonely, huh? I'm talking to my dog." She suddenly looked offended, as if to say, "What's wrong with me?" I could swear Analeesa could understand everything I say.

"Ana, I'm sorry. I just miss everyone so much. And I have no idea what to do. I was thinking about going to La Push to find Claire... but there's no telling how pissed the wolves are at me right now. And I have no idea where Jacob is... and my mom... I just don't know, Ana!" She put a paw on my thigh, trying to calm me, and it was somewhat working. Her tongue hung out of her mouth, which she did when she was thirsty.

"Hold on, Ana," I said, digging in my backpack for a water bottle. I poured a little of it into her water bowl and set it on a pile of leaves next to me, petting her as she lapped away at the water. As I put the bottle back inside the backpack, I noticed something sticking out of the side. I pulled it out and recognized it as Claire's birthday card to me. I remember her telling me to read it after the party when I got home, but I had forgotten in the excitement of recieving Analeesa. I tore the envelope and pulled out the card, which was covered in pink and silver glitter that spilled into my lap. I opened it slowly and read the words over and over, and could feel her cheerful personality practically leaping off the page.

_My Wittle Nessie-kins!  
_

_I know I'm a little late with your birthday, Ness! Don't shoot me! Anyway, you know how much I love you (I tell you all the time, I know) but I wanted to change it up. So I wrote this poem! I know what you're thinking: Claire Young, writing a poem? Well, Ness, you're worth the trouble. :) This took forever, so you'd _better_ like it._

_Friendship is something to hold on to  
But for me that's not the case  
Cause I don't feel I need to keep  
Something that can't be erased_

I am sure of what I have  
Cause with you I have no doubt  
For what we've built, can't ever fail  
It's what I care about

I find it hard to describe  
This thing that we share  
Especially when there's nothing else  
That ever could compare

Others always know  
That together we will be  
For there can never be another  
"Claire and Nessie"

Those two words, known all over  
Might as well be one  
Cause without a Nessie, there is no Claire  
I'm sorry, it just can't be done

For you're the "U", and I'm the "S"  
And forever that will be  
Cause together we make "US", and so  
YOU COMPLETE ME!

_I'm so proud of myself! I never thought I would actually write a poem... See, you do bring out the best in me ;) You already know that I'll always be here for you, and I know it's the other way around. Tell me when you wanna go to New York, and we'll catch a flight and get the hell outta here for a while! Good escape plan, huh? Lol, hope you like your presents, Ness! Happy birthday, babe :) _

_Ur one and only bestie,_

_Claire :)_

Hello again, tears. I thought I had ran out, but seeing Claire's note made them come right back. I couldn't believe how much I missed her, especially now when I could almost feel her spirit lingering, as if she were here. Ana yanked the card from my hand after a while, putting it back inside my backpack to the best of her ability. She nudged my arm, trying to get me to move.

"I guess you're right. There's no use in sitting around moping." I stood and brushed off the leaves and dirt, bending down to scoop Ana into my arms. She ran ahead, which she did when she didn't want me to pick her up. "Ana, it's freezing. Get back in my jacket." She still resisted. "Okay," I shrugged. "Your paws."

I hugged myself tight, afraid I would freeze to death pretty soon. I could see Ana shaking as she trotted along, looking colder than me. We had to stop somewhere to warm up. I grinned as I saw a KFC restaurant when we left the forest and got back out into the public. It would have to be warm in there, right? But when I arrived at the door, there was a sticker on the glass that seemed to taunt me. "_No Pets Allowed_."

I bit my lip, looked around me quickly, pulled my backpack off my back, and stuffed Ana inside, leaving a small opening for her to breathe in. Ana could fit in the palm of my hand, so she easily fit into the bag. Her nose poked through the hole and she whined a bit.

"Ana, please be quiet... don't you wanna be warm, honey? Just stay in here, _please_." She reluctantly stuck her head back into the bag. I pulled it back on my shoulder and walked in, where it was much, _much_ warmer, as presumed. And as soon as I sat down at a vacant table, I could see spiky, short black hair picking up two large buckets of chicken. I waited for the person to turn around and gasped.

"Seth?"

"Ness? What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?"

"Getting chicken," he said, laughing. "Want a piece? You look hungry."

"No, I'm fine. Why so much?"

"It's not all for me, its for all the pack. Emily took Kayllie to the airport to take her back to New York, so she couldn't cook. They sent me to get food. They happened to be craving chicken and sent me all the way down here, 'cause we don't have KFC in La Push. It sucks being the youngest sometimes."

"Oh."

"You okay, Ness?" he said, probably taking in my ridged appearance.

"Not the best, but I'm hanging in there." I shifted uncomfortably. "So why are you talking to me? I thought you all hated me."

"We don't hate you, Ness. Well, I don't anyway..." I frowned. "Wait, that came out wrong. No one hates you, everyone just thought you would handle the situation better."

"Oh," I said again, seeing no point in arguing again. "Do you know where Jacob is?"

"He's out hiding somewhere. We phased to see what he was thinking, and we found out about your mom. That really cheered the guys up for a while. They couldn't stop laughing. Quil's our chasing after him, trying to track him down. Anyway, he's terrified of her, but he misses both of you guys."

"Do you know how he knows my mother?" He sighed.

"Can we take this to the car? My arms are killing me, and if this food gets cold the guys'll be pissed." I nodded and we ran out to the car in the pouring rain. I recognized the car immediately as Jacob's Rabbit.

"Jake's car?"

"Well, he doesn't let anyone use it, so we figured we'd take advantage of his absence."

"Ahhh..."

"So, is there anywhere I can drop you off?"

"Ummm, no, actually. I ran away."

"Cool. That means you can come stay at La Push with us." That wasn't the answer I was expecting.

"I don't think that's a good idea... I mean, aren't they kinda mad at me right now?"

"Don't worry about it. The guys will be okay with it. You've got nowhere else to stay..." I could hear eager sniffing noises as Ana wriggled in the bag.

"Um, I think your backpack's hungry," he said, laughing. I blushed, smiling a bit.

"Oh, I brought my dog with me. That won't be a problem, will it?" I asked, pulling her out of the bag.

"Naw, Ness, 'course not. We could actually train the little guy. Make him one of the pack."

"That wouldn't work out too well. She's the biggest princess you'll ever meet."

"Ah, a girl. No worries, we take everyone in. Hell, maybe one of the guys'll imprint. Never know...wolves have freaky stuff goin' on." He winked at me and pulled out of the parking lot, driving toward La Push.

"So how does Jacob know my mom...?" He took a few minutes to respond.

"Well, we all know her actually. I'm not really sure if you want me to tell you this, but the guy was nuts about her. I mean, all day, every day, we'd tune in to his head and all we'd hear is Bella. She was his best friend. Charlie, her dad, was best friends with Billy, and Jacob and Bella followed suit, I guess. He brought her to La Push all the time, and he'd be pissed when we would screw with her. Making her blush was a hobby of ours, actually. Then they lost touch for a while, which was probably when she was having you, and she just popped up as a newborn vampire. Charlie died sometime around then, too. After Bella got changed, Jake was kinda freaked, but he got over it and they still hung out all the time. They were inseperable."

Well, this was news to me. Jacob and my mother, best friends? I wasn't too sure how to feel about that.

"Anyway, she changed a lot when she became a vampire. She was so uptight when she was a human, always worried about something. She got embarrased so easily. You should've seen your mom a few years ago. But something happened when she became a vampire... she just let go, I guess. Realized there was no going back. You'd never know she was the same person. Bella hasn't been visiting as much, so I don't know what she's like now, but she fit in to the pack just like family. She was so much fun. I used to love when she came over... From the way Jake and Bells- ahem, Bella, hung out, I'm surprised he's never mentioned her."

"Probably for my sake. I'm what you'd call the jealous type," I said with a dry laugh. This definitely was wierd... but it all made sense. Before I met Jacob or Claire, or even started going to school, mom always left for a friend's house... and I had never questioned who that friend was. And I noticed ever since Jake and I got together, she gradually started staying home more and more. And I never thought I'd say this, but... I actually felt a little bad. I'd be hurt if my best friend abruptly stopped hanging out with me.

"This is..."

"Wierd? I know. Wierd for us, too. We're here, Ness." That was fast. He climbed out of the front seat and opened mine for me, and we ran to Emily's house, me with Ana tucked under my arm, where the pack was audibly howling with laughter from the inside. I expected them to pause and shoot me a glare the minute I came in, but as soon as they saw me, they started laughing even harder.

"Oh God," Embry said when they were close to being finsished. He wiped a tear from his eye and pulled me into a warm embrace, ruffling my hair. "Sorry, kid, but this is too good. Its like some kinda screwed up supernatural reality TV show!"

"I hope I don't miss a single episode!" Paul shouted, and they burst into laughter again. Seth was trying to hold back laughter of his own, but he could compose himself. I noticed that pretty much all of the pack, minus Quil and Jacob, were here. Leah was sitting off to the side with her arms crossed, glaring at nothing. Apart from her, I was utterly relieved that the pack was so forgiving.

"Okay, if you guys are done, I got the food." All the guys cheered and gave him rough slaps on the back, congratulating him on not screwing up.

"I though we'd have to send someone to watch you, kid!" Embry said.

"Hey, cut it out," Sam said, entering the room, and the guys submissively sat down at the table and began to eat. " I need you guys to stay calm. Emily's coming back, and she just dropped Kayllie off at the airport. Claire's with her, so I need you to be nice and don't screw with her or anything. I'm sure she's not in the mood right now."

The minute I heard Claire's name, I felt my heart lighten up. If I was going to say here, and Claire was going to stay here, there was no way she could evade me the whole time. She'd have to talk to me sooner or later. I knew she missed me to some extent.

Upon Sam's orders, everyone became quiet and calm, and most of the attention was directed on me.

"Ummm... do you think it would be okay if I stayed here a few days, Sam?" I asked quietly.

"Are you sure?" he asked, obviously worried about me being in the same house with Claire.

"Yes... I'm sure."

"Of course you can stay." He clamped a heavy arm down on my shoulder. "Good luck, kid." With that, he turned to leave.

"Good luck, kid," Embry mocked after Sam was out of earshot, throwing a chicken bone in his direction, and they all began to laugh again. "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

"Who'll be fine?" a voice asked. I turned, expecting to see Claire, but it was Emily, by herself. "Oh, Ness. Hi, sweetie." She gave me a hug and a pearly white smile.

"Nice to see you again, Emily."

"You too, honey."

"Is Claire here, Em?" Her eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

"Claire? She's not with you?" All the wolves perked up and stared at me.

"Why would she be with me? I thought she was staying with Kayllie until she went back to NYC..."

"Kayllie told me that Claire left a note with her saying that she would be staying with you!"

"I haven't seen her since... the thing with Kyle. I have no idea where she is." Where could Claire be? Why would she leave a note like that? Unless... it was the same person who had to have taken my phone. It had to be. Claire would never do something like that; I would know.

My mind immediately started swimming as I tried to piece this together. My phone was missing, someone left a note that wasn't from Claire, Alice mentioned before I bailed that we were in danger... Anything could've happened.

"Em... I don't think Claire left that note."

Jenna's POV

My throat burned. Badly. I didn't know where I was, what happened, or who I was currently around, but all I knew was that I needed this thirst to be quenched, and not by a bottle of vodka.

I really made a huge mistake. It all started about two weeks ago. I was crazy in love with Riley. I had the world's hugest crush on him. All I wanted was to run my fingers through his blonde hair, and kiss his pink lips. I wanted him so badly that I did something that I normally wouldn't... okay, maybe I still would've done it, but that's not the point.

The guy had barely ever spoken two words to me. He was always preoccupied with Nessie. I loved Nessie; she was sweet as pie, smart, and adorable. I really didn't want to hate her, but it was like love at first sight, y'know? So when he randomly started talking to me on some random day, I immediately was willing to do anything he wanted... which is a time you'd think he wanted something sexual. I would have done that in a blink too.

But instead, he asked for the wierdest things... he asked me everything I knew about Ness, which I told him I didn't know very much about. I kept trying out my seduction skills (which usually always worked) to take his mind off of her. Then he asked me to take her phone at the party and bring it to him, and I was all his... which I probably should have thought about more before doing. I still, to this day, don't know what that was all about...

Anyway, we started to hook up, and he begged me to keep it on the down-low. I was perfectly fine with that. As long as I had him, I didn't need the world to know. Whatever floats his moat... or whatever.

So one day he asked me if I wanted to meet my family, and I told him of course I did. I knew that would make me feel much closer to him. It kinda surprised me, though, when he said that. He never seemed to like me as much as I liked him. And I also had no idea that he lived in Seattle, but I knew that little tidbit wasn't gonna fly well with my parents, so I didn't tell them where I was. But when I went to meet his "family," thiings took a turn for the worst.

I walk in the door with my arm around him, completely ecstat- ecsta... um, happy, when this red-head with the same pale-skin and creepy contacts that he had greeted us. It really scared me- my horiscope said that being near red-heads would change my luck. But for once, I tried to ignore that and put on a huge, fake smile. I was planning to be an actress, so what better practice opportunity?

"Hi!" I said with the same enthusiastic face I had been practicing in the mirror before I came.

"Hi," she said, much less peppy than I, but with a higher pitched-voice.

As I reached forward to shake her hand, I tripped over my feet and toppled over, landing in a heap on the floor.

"Whoops!" I giggled, feeling a bit embarrased. So, I had a couple shots of tequila before I came... no biggie, right? "Haha, I'm fine. Y'knw, I've broken my left leg three times before. Wouldn't it be funny if I broke the other one too? To be samitical?"

"You mean symmetrical?" Riley asked.

"Right," I said, pulling down my dress and giggling. I was sure that something had been exposed, but maybe no one saw. The red-head rolled her eyes and rubbed her temples.

"Oh, dear God, Riley," she said, looking very irritated. I hope I didn't embarrass him... "This is the one you've been telling me about? This is the girl that you think will be useful to us?"

"Well, she already was. She's the one who brought us the phone."

"Riley, I told you to bring me someone to add to our army, not a Snookie-in-training." I didn't know what 'army' they were talking about, but that was plain rude.

"Victoria, her senses and thinking rate will improve once she's changed. I can't gaurantee that she'll be a leader, but she will definitely help. Plus, she already has some knowledge about Renesmee. The more we have, the better."

The red-head, or Victoria, as Riley called her, froze, like she was thinking or something.

"Whatever. It's your ass if you're wrong." She waved her hand dismissively. Riley grabbed my arm roughly and yanked me up, ignoring my yelp in pain. He pinned me against the wall, which made me grin inwardly (maybe a little outwardly, too). I puckered up for the kiss I was expecting, though that was wierd with his mom or whoever standing there.

But his teeth grazed my neck instead, biting softly. I shrugged and let it happen; it was cool if he was into stuff like that. I was okay with anything. But my pleasure immediately did a 360 (or 180; I don't know, I failed Geometry twice) as intense pain shot through my body. I fell limp in his arms as he released his teeth from my skin. A fire-like feeling took over my body. The unexplainable pain was too much for me to bear.

When I woke up, I felt crazy different. My skin was all sparkly and shit, and my eyes were red. I was even prettier than usual, though. Three words popped into my head: W-T-F? Not to mention the burning in my throat. What had he done to me?

"You okay, new kid?" a brown-haired girl asked me, rubbing my shoulder.

"W-what happened to me? I'm so confused..."

"Been there, dont that. Don't worry, new kid. Just need a little blood in your system and you'll be fine."

"What?"

"You're a vampire. Vampires drink blood," she explained slowly, like I was dumb or something. _Moi? Dumb?_ Puh-lease...

"I'm a what?" And basically, she explained everything to me. The army, the reason behind it, and who we were after. Well, she didn't really specify _who _we were after. I learned that her name was Bree, and the hottie next to her was Diego. He was my next target, but I sadly learned that she had taken him. The one guy I actually _really_ like, and he turns me into a vampire. FML.

So, here I was now, finally accepting of what I had become. Eating people wasn't even really that hard. Then again, I was super freaking strong now. Everything was easy to me. Or so I thought...

Bree and Diego had dragged me to Forks for God-knows-what, leaving me out here in the middle of the street dying of thirst. I needed to eat, and soon. I didn't care who, I didn't care where, but I needed it _now_.

But who was I gonna eat? this was Forks, my hometown, where everyone knew each other, meaning I knew everyone in this town. How could I eat someone I knew? It was a lot easier when we were in Seattle and I didn't know who I was eating. And on top of that, it was deserted around the holidays. Everyone always found an excuse to get the hell out of here, either going on vacation or vistiting family. So Forks was pretty much empty, which meant no food.

This was beginning to get irritating. These guys were no where to be found, leaving me here by myself with no food. I hadn't eaten in days, and my throat as burning like someone set it on fire. So you can imagine my excitement when I could hear distant sniffles and footsteps. I just hoped it wasn't someone I knew as I licked my lips and made slow, spy-like strides toward the source of the sound.

It was coming from the forest. The figure sat at the base of a tree, wiping tears from its face. I tried to make out the figure with my new amazing vampire vision, but she had her face buried in her hands. But I could recognize that blonde hair anywhere.

It was Claire.

"Dammit," I muttered, trying to turn around and ignore the scent of her blood singing to me. I couldn't eat Claire, I just couldn't. I walked away, but a voice in my head told me to go back. I obeyed with mixed feelings, but the thought of Claire, who had been my friend since elementary school, dead on the ground made me rethink. I was standing here like an idiot, trying to decide what to do, when her head poked up and she cocked her head to the side.

"Jenna?" she asked quietly, then repeated herself a little louder. "Jenna, is that you?" I gave her a little wave and nodded my head.

"Hi," I said, covering my mouth quickly. I had forgotten how different my voice sounded. She heaved herself up and ran to me, wrapping her arms around me and giving me a hug.

_No, no, no_, I chanted to myself as the scent became stronger. My throat was doing the tango right now, excited for the blood that would soon be coarsing through my body-

_No_! I couldn't eat Claire. She was my friend. I'd hate myself if I had to kill her. But her blood was calling me, luring me...

"Um, nice to see you too Claire," I said with a wince as I tried to pry her off of me. She must of noticed, because stepped back a couple steps.

"Oh, sorry, Jen. I just really needed a hug. I know I probably smell terrible right now, after walking around so much." As a matter of fact, you smell the oppostie. _Delicious..._

Stop it! I mentally smacked myself upside the head. Well, at least I thought I did it mentally.

"Um, Jen, are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"Sorry, that was supposed to happen in my head."

"Um, _okay_..." The girl looked very sick. It was pretty obvious now why she had stayed home from school all those days.

"Bye," I said quickly, and tried to turn the other way, but she grabbed my arm with an iron grip and looked me in the eye.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" she asked with a furrowed brow. "I haven't talked to anyone in days. I've got the flu, my best friend's ruined my life, my mom hates me, and my brother's dead. I'll be damned if you're going to leave me here alone without even speaking to me."

I could've easily thrown her off of me, but I wanted to just leave without causing any trouble. Her blood was certainly causing me trouble. I could imagine the sweet, delicious taste, rushing down my throat nice and smooth as each gulp drove me crazier with thirst- okay, I needed to get out of here. "Claire, please let go of me," I said as politely as I could, biting my lip. But she wouldn't budge.

"Claire..." I shook my arm lightly, and she grabbed my other one. She had this crazy look in her eye that freaked me out.

"TALK TO ME, DAMMIT!" she screamed, violently shaking me. Before I knew it, there was a thump and she was slumped against the tree. I really had to be careful about throwing people so much.

I could hear her heartbeat, so she sounded fine. I turned to leave quickly, but the scent rang out even stronger than before. The sweet smell of her blood danced in the air and tickled my nose, tempting me to attack. I turned to see her touch the back of her head and observe her hand, revealing a gush of crimson red.

"Jenna, what the hell? Look what you did!" She put her hand in the air to show me the damage I had done, which only made things worse. _Screw it_, I thought, and ended up right in front of her, inhaling her scent as if it were a drug. But this was even better than drugs- trust me, I know- and gave me a high just from the smell. I touched my fingertip to her palm and tasted it, closing my eyes and going into a frenzy over the taste and smell. I couldn't resist anymore- it was impossible to walk away from this now.

"Jenna, you wierdo! What's wrong with you! You're acting like some freaky-" Her face quickly paled as she looked up at me with fear.

"Jenna, put the fangs away, and we can talk about it," she tried to reason shakily. "Jen?"

"I'm really sorry, Claire." And I lowered my mouth to her throat and did something that I knew I would soon regret.

**Ouch. That's gotta hurt, right? I'd hate to be Jenna... anyway, Jenna's POV took place a couple days prior to Nessie's. To clear things up, Claire apparently left Kayllie's house for a while and got attacked by Jenna, and a mysterious note was left for Kayllie soon after that she was at Ness' house. Leave me a PM if you're confused about anything.**

**The poem does not belong to me! I found it online and just changed the names to Nessie and Claire. If you wrote the poem and happen to be reading this, much credit for you, and thanks!**

**Y'all know what to do! Click the button below and review! C'mon, you can do it!**

**Congrats again to Berrygirl214! Love you :)**


	20. Chapter 20

**Hi guys! Did everyone have a good New Year? :) I can never find time to write on this! Now I'm back in school and I have tons of studying , so my updates might stay at the same rate I've been doing them. Sowwy! :/ But to make up for it, I will make my updates longer from now on! Yaaay! That's a little better, right? **

**Paralighter4ever (I don't think I spelled that right) you are added to my SUPERFREAKINGAWESOME list! I was patiently waiting for reviews (okay, I admit it- I'm a total review whore) and you left four reviews for different chapters! My face was all like :O and :D at the same time! I am a happy camper!**

**So for this chappy, the winner is *Pinky, you know what to do!* paralighter4ever! YAAAAY!**

**Anywho, let's continue with the story. As always, enjoy. :)**

Bella's POV

This was so surreal... after four years, on a random weekend, I have all the Cullens in my house, on my couch. They all looked the same as I remember them- stunning. I had missed all of them so much. After recieving hugs from everyone- including an awkward one-armed hug from Rosalie- I went back to Edward's side, still afraid that this was a dream and he'd vanish before my eyes. He smiled and kissed my forehead.

After Alice admitted the mistake she made, causing everyone to glare and seethe at her, Edward explained the situation.

"Everyone, Bella needs our help," Edward announced when everyone had settled down. "It may come as a surprise to you, but..." He looked at me uncertainly, and I urged him on. Better to get this part over with. "We have a daughter." I looked at the ground as mutters of shock resounded around us.

"Edward, how is this possible?" Carlisle asked. "Vampires can't reproduce."

"Well... I was human when it happened, so maybe that has something to do with it," I said quietly.

Carlisle frowned at Edward. "You know how dangerous that was, Edward. She could've been killed!"

"Actually, it was the birth that almost killed me. Literally." Carlisle's eyes sparkled with interest as he asked me for details about those horrible months. I told him all about Denali, my wierd birthing effects, and how we had to feed her blood.

"We didn't have any doctors, so we improvised. Kate, Tanya, and Irina helped me out, to the best of their ability."

"How did you become a vampire?" Esme asked.

"A better question- why did you become a vampire?" Emmett asked. "You know how much I'll miss that blush of yours. Cracks me up every time." I scowled at Emmett and answered Esme's question.

"Kate bit me after Renesmee was delivered. She said I was dying, and she didn't know what else to do." Edward winced- he probably felt horrible for not being there.

"What did you say her name was?" Carlisle asked.

"Its a combo of Renee and Esme," Alice said, obviously happy that she knew before everyone else. "Isn't it adorable?"

"Its beautiful," Esme marveled, walking up to me and putting a hand on the small of my back. "Thank you so much, honey."

"So can we see her?" Rosalie asked with a hopeful look in her eyes. She'd had this look ever since I brought up Nessie.

"Well, that's the thing," I said, biting my lip. "We don't know where she is."

"And we need to find her before Victoria does," Edward said.

"We need to split up and look for her," Alice said. "She can't be too far, she barely left an hour ago."

"How in the world does a four-year-old escape from here?" Esme wondered.

"Well, she has a crazy growth rate. She's four in reality, but-"

"She's sixteen," Alice cut in with a smile.

"Right," I muttered. Carlisle looked very concentrated, as if he couldn't figure this out. I gestured to the mantle over the fireplace, where I hung pictures of Renesmee from back when she was a baby all the way to now.

"There are some pictures if you need to see what she looks like. I'll get some of her clothes so you can get her scent." The Cullens stood and huddled around the fireplace, _oooh_ing and _ahhhh_ing.

"She's stunning!" Rosalie gasped, stroking one of the pictures, and the others mumbled in agreement.

"She's even more beautiful in person," Alice said smugly.

"She looks just like you, Edward." He smiled and wrapped an arm around me, and I rested my head on his shoulder. Despite never even meeting her, he missed her as much as I did. But I knew with all this help, we be able to find her.

And as smart as Nessie was, we'd need all the help we could get.

Jenna's POV

"Jenna, what the hell are you doing? Get off of her!"

I stumbled and shook my head as I was suddenly forced into a tree, and looked up to see Bree and Diego. I growled- I hadn't even had three sips. Bree and Diego had two people each slung over their shoulders. Claire was writhing on the ground, her chest heaving and a large, red bite mark on her throat. That _I_ had created. I couldn't believe it.

"Shit, it _is _Claire," Bree cursed as she dropped the dead humans on the ground and lifted Blondie up into her arms. "What do we do, Diego?"

"Suck the venom out?" he suggested, helping Bree prop Claire into her arms.

"And who do you think is gonna do that without killing her?"

"Well, we can just take her back like this...They said to kidnap her. They didn't say anything about her being human when we brought her back."

"That's true..." I gulped, which was a bad idea because it just reminded me of my thirst. And Claire's blood floating through the air wasn't helping either. Bree must have noticed, because she took my hand and grabbed one of the people.

"Here," she said, carelessly tossing the body at me. "So much for self-control, Jenna."

"I never said anything about having self-control! Maybe you should have thought of that before you left me by myself!" She stared at me for a while, then grabbed another person. "Eat them, and just go off somewhere for a little while. Somewhere where you'll stay out of trouble. Apparently we were wrong when we thought you could do this."

"Where do I go?"

She sighed. "Anywhere you want. Just... _please_ don't eat anyone else who's a vital part of the plan-" She was cut off by a boisterous scream as Claire kicked and flailed her limbs. I felt really bad, but Bree was right. I needed to eat.

I nodded reluctantly and grabbed both of my meals, dragging them along with me. Wait a second. Claire was part of the plan? How could Claire be part of our plan? And why would they wanna kidnap her? After failing when I tried to figure it out, I shrugged and ran off to enjoy my meal, eager to have fresh blood coarsing through my veins.

...

I dragged a pale arm across my face as I wiped the stray blood away. I had always been a messy eater. I sat on the leaves, bored out of my mind. Being a vampire rocked and sucked at the same time. You could do all kinds of cool stuff! You never have to sleep, which means you can party as long as you want, you could kill anything you wanted to, you could do physically everything, and you were totally hot.

But on the down side, there was no one to share all this cool stuff with. Since my human life had ended, I hadn't been around anyone but those rough, irritating vampires. All they cared about was fighting and training for something they don't even have reliabe info about. And I found that _incredibly_ boring. So what was I supposed to do? I couldn't visit family or friends because no one would believe me or accept me if I explained why I was so much different.

Except one person.

There was one person I could always depend on. One person I told everything to. One person who was the only one I could honestly say was my best friend.

I stood with a grin on my face and ran off in a random direction, wondering if I'd be able to find my way there along the way. I sucked at directions.

When I could finally make out the little condo in the distance, I squealed and pounded on the door, then softened my knocks when I remembered the new addition to our family.

I grinned as the door swung open and my sister stood there with her mouth hung wide open. Her boyfriend- ahem, fiancee- stood behind her with his arms wrapped around her extended belly, nuzzling his nose in the crook of her neck. Half of her long, brunette hair was pulled back in a messy bun, and the other half rested on her shoulders and back. She wore a purple stretchy shirt and gray sweat pants, something only she could still look awesome in.

I was ecstatic to see both of them. Well, one more than the other.

My best friend/sister, Jessica.

"Jenna?" she asked in shock. I smiled and nodded bashfully. She was probably shocked to see me like this. "Well, don't just stand there! Come gimme a hug!"

I ran straight to her arms, hugging her as tight as possible without hurting the tiny creature in her tummy. Mike backed away, knowing the impact my sister and I could create together.

"I missed you so much, Jess," I said, my words muffled as I buried my face in her shoulder. I was glad I had eaten before I came; not even Jessica was safe from my craze.

"I missed you too, Mike, you handsome devil!" Mike mocked in a voice similar to mine. I pulled away and gave him a hug, too.

"That's more like it," he said jokingly. I loved his sense of humor. I made me feel a lot better when I was down, even in this case. Jessica studied my face in confusion, cocking her head to the side and squinting as she stared.

"Well, aren't you gonna invite me in?" I asked, punching Mike's shoulder playfully. He winced and rubbed it; oops. It was easy to forget my vampire powers when I felt so human her with my family.

Jessica blinked and snapped out of her trance. "U-um, yeah, kiddo. Come on in."

I inhaled and smiled as I smelled the failiar scent of fresh linens, freesias, and sweat socks. Mike never was very clean... it was slightly messy, but for the most part it was nice in here, as usual. Even being pregnant, I knew Jessica wouldn't let things become a mess. She would always be a priss.

Their little apartment was a pretty powder blue with tan accents, which I had helped the two pick out. I remember everything, surprisingly- when we painted the apartment, went furniture shopping, moved everything in... I really missed being human.

I sat on the tan couch, throwing aside a pair of jeans that were in my way. It was incredible to be back home. Don't get me wrong, I missed my house that I actually _lived _in, but things just weren't the same when Jessica graduated from Forks and moved in with Mike.

When others called me names when I was younger, she was there to tell them to shut the hell up. She helped me with my homework, shared everything with me, never yelled at me. She was the one who could imitate my annoying mother to a T and have us rolling on the floor for hours. When I felt especially dumb some days, she was there to tell me that I was smart. She was always there..

I remember how much I cried when she told me she was moving out, and how happy her face was. I felt terrible for bringing her down in her happy mood, but it hurt. I was only twelve then.

_I looked up from the T.V. as there was a light knock on the door._

_"Come in," I called, and smiled when Jessica was there with a huge grin on her face. "Hey, Jess!"_

"Jen, I have amazing news!" she said, flopping on my bed next to me. I muted Degrassi (a show she introduced to me to) and turned to face her. 

_"Omigosh, what happened? Did Mom and Dad say we could go shopping in Seattle next weekend?"_

_"Even better! Mike and I found a little condo by the college! It's adorable, Jen. You have to see it!" My face fell as I tried to process what she was telling me. "We're moving in next week. I'm sooo excited! I can't wait!" I felt my eyes begin to water and she frowned at me. "Jenna? What's wrong?"_

"Jessica, you can't leave!" If she left, who was gonna help me deal with my parents? With all the people at school who teased me?

_"Jen, I'm eighteen now. I have to start my life sometime..."_

_But you can't leave me here! I can't do this alone! What about when I start high school? I can't go through that without you!"_

_"Jenna, I know you can."_

"No, I can't. No one even likes me." It was true; I was chubby, I had braces and glasses, and I was shy. My sister had been my only friend.

_"Looks aren't eveything, Jenna. You have an amazing personality and you're such a fun persn. Trust me, I know people who would kill for a personality like yours."_

_"Really?" She made a wierd face and nodded._

_"Oh yeah. Definitely. You really gotta put yourself out there, y'know? Don't be afraid of what other people will think of you. Have fun and be yourself." I smiled and gave her a warm hug._

_"Will we still keep in touch, Jess?"_

"Of course! Jen, I don't think I could go a week without talking to you. Besides, its not like I'm moving out of state or anything. I'm about ten minutes away, tops. You can visit me anytime you want."

And I did. Like, a lot. But it wasn't as easy as it seemed. She had college, a boyfriend, and a life. All of which I would never thought I'd have. That is, until high school started and I lost like, a thousand pounds, got rid of both my glasses and my braces, and took Jessica's advice. I was known as the bubbly, fun-loving girl, and everyone wanted some of the happiness I had been known to spread.

But I felt that it wasn't enough.

My sister had been my personal cheerleader, and I was known to be self-conscious. My parents weren't exactly what you'd call the supportive type, and friends could only fill so much of your heart. I needed my best friend, and she wasn't there. I think I started drinking when I realized that Jessica wasn't coming back, and I was pretty much on my own. Sure, I was pretty now, and insanely popular, but what did that really mean if I couldn't come home and tell someone all about it?

I got tired of drinking alone at home whenever my parents left. And they sure left home a lot. So I had my first house party at fifteen, and that had been a great idea. There were plenty of people around, and with a shot of tequila, you could pretend everyone in the room was your best friend. You could pretend like the guys you were screwing around with actually cared about you, and pretend that your sister was right downstairs, partying with everyone else. So every month or so, I'd throw one of these parties, instantly increasing my status, having the time of my life, and doing things I would never think I would do. But I was a teenager, right?

I felt like I was just like Jessica- pretty, popular, and madly in love with someone who was in love with someone else. Although I think that last one worked out better for Jess.

I had called her to ask what I should do about Riley, and she told me to take initiative (still don't know what that means) and let my personality shine through. And I thought it worked... I wonder how she would react when I told her how that turned out.

Jessica sat down in the tan recliner, while Mike walked to the kitchen.

"Bring me back some ice cream," she called, then winked at me. "I've been craving ice cream since this kid's been in me. About a week left of this and I'm free."

"Do you know if its a boy or girl?"

"We're gonna keep it a surprise... but I really want a girl. And he wants a boy, so we'll see who wins this one." We laughed, followed by an awkward silence.

"So, Jen... um, you look... different."

"In a good way?"

"In a very good way, Jen. But in a wierdly familiar way..."

"Yeah, I kinda see it, too," Mike said, returning from the kitchen with two bowls of ice cream and sitting on the arm of the chair.

"Thanks," she said, grabbing both bowls.

"Um, one of those was for m-"

"Now I remember... you look like the Cullens! You remember them, honey?" she asked Mike, putting a huge spoon of ice cream in her mouth.

He nodded with a glare. "Of course. How could I forget?"

"Yeah, they were pale, and gorgeous, and never ate anything..."

"You forgot wierd," Mike said, walking back into the kitchen, probably to get more ice cream.

"Yeah... and your eyes are red... new contacts?"

"Uhhh..."

"Is there some, like, undercover club or something at that school? 'Cause its not the first time I've seen that around here. Mike, you remember Bella?" she asked as he returned to the living room.

His face paled and he nodded quickly, sitting on the chair arm again trying to hide his face. Jess didn't seem to notice.

"Well, I saw her the other day at the grocery store and she looked just like the Cullens. Jen, do you know what's going on?" Bella? Nessie's older sister? She was a vampire?... Well, now that I think about it, she was pretty pale. But her eyes weren't red like a vampires...

How was I gonna answer this question? I told my sister everything, but this was sacred in the vampire world. It was like telling the whole school that you were bulemic. You just don't do it.

"It's pretty complicated... I mean, I don't think I can tell you." She looked hurt when I said that; we were best friends, and it was customary for besties to tell each other everything. I was the first person she told when she found out she was pregnant.

"Jen..."

"Jess, you're not gonna like me anymore if I tell you."

She gasped. "I think I know... you've been using new make-up that's tested on animals, huh?"

"No!"

"It's okay, Jen! I know I don't believe in animal testing but that doesn't mean I won't love you anymore!"

"No, Jess! I'm not human!" It was silent for a long time as Mike and Jessica gaped at me.

"What?" they both said after a while.

"I'm a vampire..."

Mike started coughing up his ice cream and Jessica started breathing heavily. I stood with my hands up like I was surrenduring and inched toward them.

"No, no, it's okay-" Jessica gave a shriek that no doubt would have pierced my eardrums if I was still human. She scrambled up from the armchair and hid behind it, Mike doing the same.

"Stay back!" Mike warned, putting his ice cream spoon in the air and pointing it at me like he was gonna hurt me with it.

"Calm down, please!"

"Please don't let us die," Jessica pleaded with her hands together. "Please, please, please..."

"Can you guys stop for a second and let me explain?" I asked, walking over to theie trembling forms behind the recliner. Mike put his face in his hands and started sniffling.

"Look, Jenna, you don't have to hurt us. We're your friends!"

"I'm not gonna hurt you! I ate before I came!" I shouldn't have said that, because Jessica stared at me in surprise and barfed right on the carpet.

"Oh, God. _Ohhhhh_, my God!" Mike chanted. This was not how I imagined it. While Mike continued to mutter random stuff about piggy banks and the Pilsbury dough boy, and Jessica rolled on the ground clutching the baby, I rolled my eyes and waited for them to stop with the over-dramatics. I figured this was a good time to think, something I often didn't do in my free time. But shots were out of the question now...

They brought up something about "Cullens"... sounded wierdly familiar to me... where did I hear that name before? Didn't Riley say something about that?

And Bella? Jessica couldn't possibly be talking about the same Bella. I'd been to Nessie's house millions of times, and Bella never tried to eat us. But she was pale and stunning... but she had caramel colored eyes! Not red...

And Bree said Claire was part of the plan... Claire was always with Bella and Nessie. Was the army targeted at them for some reason? Why would they kidnap Claire?

It was making a bit more sense now, I think... Claire and Nessie were best friends... what if they were trying to lure Nessie and Bella? I think that was it! But what about these "Cullen" people? I almost solved it, but something was missing...

"...it won't kill her, just fend her off for a little so we can escape." I sighed- did Mike realize I could hear everything he was saying?

"Okay..."

"Three, two, one!" All of a sudden, Mike popped up from behind the armchair and something hit the side of my head. I picked up the object and shook my head. And they called me dumb...

"Um, Mike, what do you want me to do with this muffin? Eat it?"

"Damn," he muttered.

"You're an idiot," Jess moaned as she clutched her stomach tighter.

"It was stale!" Mike tried to reason.

"Are you guys done yet?"

"Just let her do it, Mike. Go ahead, Jen. Eat us. Get it over with!" Jessica cried, crawling to her knees with her arms in the air."

"I am NOT going to eat you! Just listen to me. You knew Bella Swan, right?" They both nodded.

"Tell me everything you know about her," I asked, sounding rather professional. It made me feel totally smart.

It was then that I decided I wouldn't just throw away my new life like I did my old one. If I had to be a vampire, I was gonna be a useful one. I've already made a mess of things with Claire, and I can't take that back. But I _can_ do something about it, and that's what I was gonna do.

...

Nessie's POV

We had turned Forks and La Push upside down looking for Claire. She had to be around here somewhere...

"You get anything, Seth?" The gray and brown wolf shook his head no and snorted in frustration. We had all split up in pairs to look for her, and I was paired with Seth, a good partner for me in my opinion. We had a good partnership together. But we still weren't finding anything...

"Seth, you think we should split up? You know, then we'll have a bigger chance of finding her." Seth whined and shook his head no.

"But we need to find her, Seth!" I walked closer to him and stroked his head. "You have no idea what this is doing to me. She's my best friend, and anything could happen to her! Please, Seth." He sighed and shrugged. I gave him a hug around his thick, furry neck and ran off deeper into the forest. I felt less self-conscious sniffing around without Seth there.

After a while, I caught on to something... actually, a mixture of many different scents. Claire's was definitely the strongest. The scent was practically dancing in the air so strong it made me slightly thirsty. The I smelled Jenna's scent, which was wierd. I hadn't seen her in weeks. What had she been doing in the forest? And there were two scents that smelled a little familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It was a scent I frequently smelled, but never really knew.

I squinted and my heart stopped when I saw blood smeared on the closest tree, and I went closer to investigate.

It was Claire's.

Had someone gotten to her? Alice did say something about danger before I left. Oh, God. This was terrible.

"Seth!" I called. "Seth! Come here! I got something!" No response. "Seth?" How far out had I gotten?

"Who's there?" a soft voice called from the distance. "Hello?"

My heart pounded as the voice came closer and closer. Who could it be?

A beautiful blonde vampire appeared, looking around. When her eyes locked on me, a smile covered her face and she ran right for me, hugging me tightly.

"We've finally found you," she said into my shoulder. I wasn't sure what to do, so I patted her back uncertainly.

"You really are more beautiful in person," she said when she pulled away. She stroked my hair and smiled at me.

"Ummm... who are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I probably scared you. I'm Rosalie."

"You're a Cullen, huh?"

"Uh, yes. How did you know?"

"Your eyes."

"Oh," she nodded. "Your mother's been looking for you everywhere. Don't you think you should head back home?"

"You're not gonna tell her where I am, are you?" I asked worriedly. "Please, don't tell her."

"Why not?" she asked in confusion.

"You know what she did, don't you?"

"Honey, it was all a misunderstanding. Your mom didn't do anything-"

"Leave me alone! You lying to me isn't gonna make me go back home! I'm not that gullible!"

"Why would you think I would lie to you?"

"I don't even know you! If I know my mom and she'd lie to me, why wouldn't you?"

"Nessie-"

"Don't call me that. My friends and family call me that."

"I am your family, Ne- Renesmee. And right now, the rest of your family is out looking for you. We all care about you, honey."

"What do you mean, my family? Alice and my mom?"

"No, I mean your whole family." She took my hands and smiled at me. "Your aunts and uncles, your grandparents... your father." I looked at her hopefully.

"My father? My real one?"

"The one and only." I smiled back and nodded.

"Okay." It only took a couple seconds to realize what was happening. I yanked my arm away from her.

"I can't believe I almost fell for that. Get away from me! i'm not gonna let any of you guys trick me anymore!"

She sighed and grabbed my hand. "You can believe me or not, but we don't have time for this. There's someone trying to track you down right now. It's not safe for you to be out here."

I pulled away and started walking the opposite direction.

"Go tell my mom she should have thought of that before she lied to me." All of a sudden, I was lifted off the ground and slung over her shoulder.

"I'm really sorry I have to do this, Renesmee, but you can get killed out here."

"Put me down!" I screamed.

"Please stop, sweetie." I ignored her, screaming and flailing around as if I were being murdered. She had to put me down soon.

"Put me down, put me down! Stop it! Leave me alone!" She had to get annoyed soon.

I was knocked to the ground soon as a growl erupted from nowhere. I looked up to see Seth on top of Rosalie, clawing and scratching. She zipped from underneath him and grabbed his tail, slinging him across the ground. He shook his fur out and ran for her, but she was too fast. She zoomed around the field, effectively confusing him, before climbing up a tree and landing on his back. She grabbed his neck and prepared to snap it.

"Stop! Please, stop! Don't hurt him! He's my friend!" Her eyebrows pinched together and she jumped off of my back and started toward me, but he attacked her from behind and knocked her out of the way. I stood and ran toward them, knowing how dangerous that was. He looked at me with an eye roll and pushed me behind the tree with his big, wet nose.

"No, Seth, you don't understand!" but he was gone before I could finish my sentence.

As they wrestled around on the ground, I called "Stop!" but no one listened to me. I closed my eyes and tried to make the sight go away, but they wouldn't stop.

And before I could process it, an arm grabbed me and I was dragged away without either of them realizing I was gone.

**Awwww, snap! Something's about to go down!**

**I think this may be my longest chapter so far. Sorry about all the changes in POVs.**

**I'm setting a new review goal, guys. All I want is to get to 100 reviews before I post the next chapter. As of now, I am at 90, so it's only ten more. We can do that, right? Not saying I'm gonna stop the story if I don't meet my goal, but I sure will be pretty sad :(**

**So please, make my day, and leave me a review (or a flame, it's a review either way) and tell me whatever. Like it, hate it, go ahead! It makes me smiley either way :)**

**Congrats again to paralighter4ever! *hands her a plate of virtual cookies* Love you!**

**Press the button. Press it... you know you wanna do it... It's right down there...**


	21. Chapter 21

**Please don't kill me...I know it's been weeks since I updated, but I'm back, and now is what counts, right?**

**If anyone cares about the reason why I've been gone so long, I've been SUPER sick. Like, not able to move, sick. I started feeling better about a week ago, but I had finals to study for. Also had a terrible case of writer's block, then my computer got a virus, and to top all that off, I am extremely disappointed with this chapter... Sowwy :(**

**You all sure know how to cheer a girl up, though. I came on FFN and not only did I get my requested 10 reviews, but I got 8 bonus reviews! The last chapter was the record for the most reviews I've ever gotten for a chapter! Thanks, guys :)**

**Pinky, I'll have that new drum set for you soon! I guess we'll skip the drum roll for our new honorable reviewer! Who happens to be...*awkward silence due to absence of drums***

**.19! Congrats! :D Thanks for the love!**

**We have a POV from a special person... you're welcome, Claire fans ;)**

**Don't get confused, people. I put one section in 3rd person just so we could get into Ana's mind without **_**actually**_** getting into her mind because... well, she's a dog. Its not very long, because there's only so much a dog could be thinking... **

**Alrighty, guys, I'm done talking. Enjoy, as always:) **

Claire's POV

My eyes fluttered open as a bright light flashed through my eyes. I couldn't remember a thing about how I had gotten here, or where I was. But the large, empty room set off a red flag that told me I needed to get the hell out.

Everything was so clear. Sharp. Defined. I could see every little speck of dust floating around me, even in pitch darkness. The latent, painless throbbing on my head reminded me of the incident right before... Jenna bit me. She _bit _me! So... was I a vampire?

I could still feel a lingering tingle left over from the burning sensation I had felt not too long ago. That feeling was undescribable... and I thought getting shots was bad. Did that mean I had been transforming, or was that just the pain of the bite?

I tried to take a look at my arm to see if it was pale, but something bound my arms together behind my back. My fingers searched and felt iron, and something that felt like a thick chain. I started to scream for help, but then realized I was gagged as well.

"-Well I'll check on her, see if she's ready to give me some answers," a high-pitched voice said from outside the door. A slit of light washed into the room and a red-head appeared in the open doorway, smiling gently at me.

"Hello, honey," she said, her voice light and warm. She was definitely a vampire. I didn't say a word- just stared at her with curiosity. Who was she, and what was I here for? She dragged an old wooden chair in front of me and turned it around so it was backwards. She straddled it and rested her head on the edge of the chair's spine. She yanked at a string hanging above her and light flooded the room. The light cast down over her head like she was an angel- but it was apparent she was anything but an angel.

"How're you feeling?" she asked, looking genuinely concerned. I still remained silent.

"I know what you're thinking," she chuckled. "Why do I care? Well, I'll be your hostess for the remainer of your stay and I want to make sure you're as comfortable as possible." She paused for a while, then asked, "Are you going to say anything?" I rolled my eyes- did she not see that I was gagged?

"Of course," she said with a giggle. "I've just got a lot on my plate right now. My thinking's a little clouded..." She gingerly untied the gag and dropped a thick rope at my feet.

"Sorry I had to do that. I knew you'd probably be scared and we didn't want to create a scene. This little place of ours is a secret, you know." She put a finger to her lips and winked at me. I was not amused.

"So, anyway, think of me as you cool sorority house mother. I'm your friend." She waited for me to say something, and I didn't.

"So how do you enjoy life as a vampire? It's quite different, isn't it? No worries, you'll get used to it." I kept my mouth closed.

"Are you gonna keep playing these games with me, Blondie?" she asked, in a voice less sweet and sugary. A corner of my mouth lifted into a half-smile- I knew she wasn't as irritatingly sweet as she seemed. She wanted something from me and I knew it. If she was gonna play games by trying to play the good guy, then I was gonna keep my mouth shut.

"Alright, let's cut the crap," she said with a sigh, leaning forward. "You have some knowledge that I need, and I want you to tell me everything you know."

"Depends," I said, as if I were contemplating. I knew I wouldn't tell her squat, but it was fun to play the interrogation game.

"What do you know about Renesmee?" As soon as the words came out of her mouth, there was a sharp pain in my chest. What was she asking about _her_ for? Whatever reasons she had, this crazy red-head chick didn't seem like the right person to be spilling the beans to. I may have hated Renesmee, but I never wanted to see her get hurt, especially because of me.

"I have no idea who that is," I lied, looking directly into her eyes. You could always get away with a lie that way. She stared at me for a while, her eyes concentrated little slits, and I stared right back fearlessly.

"Are you kidding? You can't use the lying stare on me- I invented that before you were even born."

"What in the world are you talking about?" I asked in mock confusion. She shook her head at me.

"You're a smart girl, Claire. I know you are. I've been watching you, and I see a lot of myself in you, I must admit. I know a lot about you. But you don't know anything about me. So I will warn you, sweet cheeks- I have a very low tolerance for bullshit, and a very short temper. Give me the answers I need, and we won't have any problems. We clear?"

"Crystal," I said, shooting her a huge fake smile. I didn't let her know that I was kinda wierded out that she knew my name and said she'd been, "watching me."

"Good. Now, I will ask again. What do you know about Renesmee?"

"Who?" I asked like an idiot, cocking my head to the side like a puppy. I really wasn't afraid of her, no matter how much she tried to scare me. She chuckled a little, putting her head down. I expected her to raise it and have steam shooting from her nostrils and flames in her eyes, but she looked calm.

"You're funny, kid. But funny's not gonna keep you alive." I shrugged indifferently, causing her to sigh. "Okay, here's the deal. You tell me what I want to know, and I keep you alive. If you don't, I'll have to kill you. It's really a win-win situation for me, sweetie."

"How so?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You tell me what I need, and I have extra knowledge on what's going on so I'm better prepared. You don't tell, and you'll make a wonderful hostage. So either way benefits me. The only question is, what benefits you? You can not tell me and stay here and starve while you wait for me to kill you, or tell me and join us. C'mon, kiddo. You'd be perfect. You could even be my partner in crime. You sure are smart enough. You'd be the perfect sidekick. I have bigger plans after winning this war, if you know what I mean. And I've always wanted a daughter."

My heart fluttered when I heard that. Could this woman possibly be like a mother? A mother who'd actually love me? I could see it now- both of us together, arm in arm, taking over the vampire world. She could teach me everything I needed to know, and we'd be in charge.

But I shook that thought away immediately. I had no idea who this person was and what she was planning to do, and she was threatening me.

"C'mon, Claire," she urged. "I know that you know something. And I _know_ you feel the burning in your throat." As soon as she said that, I swallowed and the burning feeling came back again. My throat felt like it was being engulfed in flames.

"I can help you out. All you have to do is tell me what you know. Two choices, hon. Choose." I glared at her for a while, then a light bulb went off in my head.

"Okay. I'll tell you everything you need to know-"

"I knew you'd come to your senses," she said, smiling.

"Wait. I'm not done. I'll tell you everything I know if you tell _me_ what's going on and why you want to know." She raised a dark eyebrow.

"And you'll tell me everything?"

"Pinky promise," I said solemnly, and tried to raise a hand, but I was still bound together.

"I'll take your word for it," she said, watching my arm tug at the chain. "I like you, kid. You're smart. Keep this up and we can be really good friends."

"Mhm," I said, nodding.

"You first." I stared at her for a bit, wondering if this was a good idea. She folded her arms across her chest and leaned back a bit.

"I'm waiting." I tried to think of a way to stall for time so I could make something up. I thought of nothing. "Well?" she asked impatiently. I sighed; there was nothing I could do now. I told her everything I knew about Nessie- her power, her limits as a half-breed, her strengths, and much more, most of which I tried to fabricate. Maybe this could work in my favor- if she told me what was going on, maybe I could find some way to help.

"Great, great," she said, grinning and looking off into space. "Thanks, kid." She stood and brushed off stray dust that floated onto her jeans, and headed toward the door.

"Wait, where are you going?" I asked in confusion. "You're supposed to tell me what's going on!"

She waved a dismissive hand. "Awh, nothing special. A little spying, a little fighting, a little killing... the usual." She winked. "You wouldn't mind if you never saw your little buddy Nessie again, would you?" I gaped in surprise._ What?_ "Of course not," she answered for me. "I know all about what she did to you."

"Wait, what do you mean never see her again? Are you gonna hurt her?" I shook and shimmied around on the floor, trying to get at her.

She walked toward me again. "Calm down,_ Doodle_," she said, giving me a smug smile. "You should be proud of yourself. Consider me your friend. Well, at least as long as I'll keep you alive."

"But I thought-"

"You're smart, sweetie. But not as smart as I am. I've gotten all the use I could get out of you. I really don't have a reason to keep you around, now do I?"

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?"

"It's always the same questions," she muttered to herslef, twirling a fiery red piece of hair around her finger and looking at nothing in particular. "Enjoy your last moments... they're always the ones that count, right? You can sit up here and... ponder life, or whatever."

"Don't hurt her!" I screamed. "Don't you dare hurt her! I'll _kill_ you if you put your hands on her!"

"Relax, Blondie. You'll both die together! How does that sound?" she cooed in a voice that would be used while talking to a baby, putting her hands on her knees. She ruffled my hair and walked away, chuckling the whole time.

"Oh, and before I forget," she said, putting a finger against her chin. She reached in her pocket and tossed a familiar object at me. It slid across the floor and landed at my feet with a thud. "Might as well know the truth. You'll be dead soon anyway."

I thought I would burst into tears at the sight in front of me, if it were possible. The cell phone glowed before my eyes, displaying a picture of me and Nessie, when we were still the best of friends. I remembered that day... the same day as Jenna's party. The same day she lost her phone.

"_You_...told Quil about Kyle?" She nodded as if it were obvious. Nessie was telling the truth all along... I felt horrible immediately. All the things I had said to her... the whole time she had never done a thing. This psycho in front of me had. But _why_?

"You are a smart one, aren't you?" She stood and looked down at me with a trace of admiration. "Riley'll be here in a day or two to dispose of you." Riley? Riley who was dating Jenna? Who dated Nessie? She must have noticed my eyes bugging out of my head, because nodded and said,"Yes, that's exactly who I mean. _That_ Riley." She walked toward the door and I called out, "Wait!" before she shut it as a light bulb went off in my head. She looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"I... I guess I can help you out a bit more, if you're gonna kill me. Might as well..." I closed my eyes, then gestured for her to come closer to me as if it were a serious secret. She inched toward me and reached down. I cupped my hands at her ear and whispered what I hoped would be a substantial lie to fix whatever was going on.

"_Really_," she said, and a sly look covered her face.

"Can I still live?" I asked with false hope, knowing the answer before she replied. She chuckled softly again, then muttered, "Sorry, kid. We've got enough vampires here already. Nice to meet you, though. You're a _lovely_ girl." I raised my arm to flip her off (force of habit), but my hand was still bound.

"Victoria, by the way," she said with a fake smile. She extended her arm for a handshake, then retracted it quickly. "Oh, yes, I almost forgot. You're a little tied up now, aren't you?" She gave a smirk, threw her head back in a maniacal laugh, and left the room, slamming the door behind her.

I mocked her irritating laugh as I tried to scoot closer to the phone. My fingers searched the floor behind me until I got a firm grasp on it.

I had a _very_ important phone call to make.

3rd person POV

Ana layed sprawled across the seat next to the window sill in the living room, watching intently. She had insisted on going with Nessie to ensure her safety, but she had been instructed to stay home and wait for her. So that's what she planned on doing. Emily sat with her for a while, giving her a few leftovers and stroking her back, but she had laundry to do and "it wasn't going to fold itself."

But even if Ana were human and had normal things to do like laundry, it probably wouldn't distract her from making sure her Nessie came back safe and sound. She was beginning to get a little tired, but fought to keep her eyes open as she watched for Nessie's return. She wasn't gonna let anything distract her until she got back. A missing Nessie always equaled an alert Ana.

And then she sensed it. The tingling sensation in her tail. She wasn't sure what it was, but she knew that on the rare occasions she had that feeling, something terrible was about to happen. And the feeling was really strong.

She let out a bark to try to let someone know that something didn't feel right. Her intuition was on fire right now. But she remained ignored. She barked a second time, then a third.

"Shut up!" Sam called, instantly cutting off her barks. He had come back a few minutes ago to give Emily an update and pick up a snack for himself, but he'd mostly just been irritating Ana.

"Don't yell at her, Sam," Emily pleaded. "She's really worried about Nessie." Ana ignored their banter, the feeling becoming stronger and stronger. She knew something had to be wrong, and she needed to find out.

She hopped from the chair quickly and scratched at the door, usually a quick and easy way to get humans to open it. But Emily giggled and scooped her up under her chest and put her back in the chair. She jumped right back down, a little irritated with Emily. She needed to get outside and find Nessie and save her from whatever danger she was in. But Emily put her right back in the chair again and said," You're a little antsy, aren't you? Nessie's out finding Claire right now- she's fine."

Ana let out a whine, hoping that would let Emily know, but she just went back to the kitchen. She was gonna have to sneak out somehow. She raised herself up on her hind legs in a standing position and rested her paws on the sill. She heaved herself up and clawed at the lock on the window, but it wouldn't budge. She growled in frustration and jumped down, trying to think of what to do. She needed to get out of here, and fast...

She paced in front of the chair, furiously thinking of what to do. She could pretend she had to use the bathroom and run, but Emily would just send Sam after her. She had to do it without anyone seeing her.

She searched for something that could keep Emily occupied for enough time to plan her escape. Her eyes locked on the shiny bowl of chocolates on the coffee table in the living room and immediately formulated a plan. She tiptoed toward the coffee table and put her paws on the clear glass, tightening her stomach muscles and forcing the rest of her body up with all her might.

When she finally was up on the table, she sniffed around in the bowl and winced. She knew she wasn't allowed to eat chocolate, due to the fact that it could kill her, and she was fine with it, because she never found it very appealing. She checked to see if Emily was looking before she put her nose to the edge of the bowl and shoved it, causing it to shatter into pieces on the floor. She felt bad for having to break the bowl, but saving Nessie was more important to her.

She jumped down immediately and put her tongue to one of the many candies that sprinkled the floor, trying to give off the appearance that she would eat it. She knew that Emily would have to move her somewhere else to keep her from eating the small chocolates, and she could have more escape options.

"Oh no!" she heard Emily say, and light footsteps approached. "No!" she said, pushing Ana's face from the candy. Ana shrugged and went on to the next one, so Emily moved her to the couch.

"What was that?" Sam asked angrily.

"Nothing, Sam," Emily assured him. "Ana had a little mishap."

Ana jumped down and pretended like she would eat another chocolate. Emily sighed.

"Sam, will you take Ana into the bedroom? If she stays here, she'll eat something."

"Just keep her on the couch! I don't want her in our room messing up more stuff."

"If she stays in here she could eat more chocolate and get sick. Its all over the floor, Sam. I have to clean this up first." He rolled his eyes and grabbed her by the scruff of her neck, taking her to their bedroom and setting her on the bed.

"Dumb dog," he muttered, closing the door. As soon as he was gone, Ana yelped in joy and hopped off the bed. She smiled at the wide open window in the room. She hopped up to the sill and sniffed the open air, catching a whiff of the smell she long to be with.

She inhaled Nessie's scent and knew she would find her. Nessie was her mother, her owner. Her best friend. And no one lets their best friend get hurt.

Ness' POV

I tried to scream out, fighting and thrashing, but whoever was holding me was unnaturally strong. I couldn't escape. I ignored the husky voice that instructed me to calm down in a hushed tone. It took a while for me to realize who it was.

"_Jake_?" I cried when he released my mouth, a little louder than necessary.

"Shhhh!" he whispered, waving his hand and gesturing me to come with him. He grabbed my hand and pulled me deeper into the forest, effectively making me happier and happier. He was finally back.

As soon as we stopped, I attacked him with all the force in my body, engulfing him in the biggest hug I could possibly give.

"Whoa, Ness. Calm down. Are- are you crying?" I lifted shaking fingers to my cheek and felt wet tears, and nodded.

"I guess I am. You just don't realize how happy I am, Jake!"

"Me too, Ness. You don't realize how hard it was being away from you for so long."

"Where did you go?"

He winced. "Your mom chased me all the way to Australia. No lie."

"What?" I gaped in surprise.

"She stopped after a few hours, probably 'cause she got thirsty. But I look back once and I could swear her eyes were pure red."

"You're kidding!"

"Nope. She's crazy," he muttered, shaking his head as if that would make the memories vanish.

"No she's not, Jake."

"I know," he said, smiling. "I've known her forever, since we were kids, and I have never seen that side of her. If I didn't run all the time, she probably would've murdered me. She's really protective of you, isn't she?" I nodded and grabbed his hand, and we started to stroll.

"I understand why, though," he said. I looked at him in wonder. "You're all she has, Ness."

"But she doesn't have to treat me like that, Jake. I'm sixteen years old!" He stared at me until I sighed. "Okay, fine. I know I'm not really sixteen. But still..." He squeezed me closer to him again.

"So how did you know we were here?"

"Seth. Read his mind yesterday and ran all the way back. New record- only took me six hours." I gave him a high five and laughed.

"Congrats!" I knew how he was always trying to beat his personal running records.

"So should I take you back home?"

"No!" I said quickly. "I'm kinda on the run from my mom right now..."

He smirked and squeezed my hand. "What a coincidence- so am I." He gave me a sly wink and heaved me onto his back, running deeper into the forest.

"So? Where to, runaway?"

"Where ever you go."

"Well, we can go wherever you want. France, Canada... Australia," he said, laughing.

"How about we stay within the country this time."

"No problem... oh, crap."

"What?"

"I can't phase, or the guys'll read my mind."

"Not a problem. I have no problem with a little bit of thieving." He slowed to a stop and looked at me in disbelief.

"What?"

"Let's steal a car, Jake! C'mon, it'll be fun!"

"Little Miss Perfect wants to break the law."

"What's that supposed to mean? What, you don't think I can be a badass?" He burst out into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

"Oh, you find that funny?"

He shook his head and chuckled. "Of course! _You_ want to steal a car."

"Why not? I'm already breaking a rule, so what's another?"

He looked at me with wide eyes. "You're absolutely serious?"

"Absolutely," he said, bobbing my head up and down.

"Well, if you're okay with it... let's do it."

...

"Interesting choice in vehicle," I said, tapping the dashboard of the fairly-beaten up car. It reminded me of the truck my mom and I shared at home, but it was a rusty dark blue color. We found it abandoned on a random street, and I didn't have the heart to steal a car that someone would need to use, so we took this one.

"We had no choice. You wouldn't take any other car. It doesn't count as stealing if no one uses it, y'know."

"It does too! I find this _very_ badass."

"If you say so, Ness. It's actually cute when you try to act bad."

"I'm not sure whether to be offended or flattered, but I'll take it. So where are we off to?"

"Wherever the road takes us."

"Oh, that's so romantic," I said in my best Southern belle accent.

"I know," he said, playing along and laughing.

"Jake, I don't know what I'd do without you," I said, returning to my normal voice. "You're all I had. Well, you and Ana- oh, shit!" I screamed, and he screeched to a stop.

"What? What happened?"

"Ana! Jake, I left Ana at Emily's house!"

"Don't worry about it, Ness," he said, catching his breath. "Emily is probably taking good care of Ana."

"I know, but what if we don't come back for a while?"

"Then she'll take care of her until we do. It's nothing to worry about."

"I hope you're right..."

"Don't worry about it, Ness," he said, pulling off onto the road again. "So what was going on back there?"

"Well, we were looking for Claire, and one of my 'aunts' came to drag me back to my mom. Seth thought she was attacking me and they started fighting."

"Wait... what do you mean 'one of your aunts'?"

"Well, she's related to my dad, I guess, and she told me he was back and tried to get me to go back home. But I knew she was lying."

"Your _dad_? As in Edward?" 

"Uh, I don't know. My other aunt, Alice, came to our house yesterday and told us there was some kind of 'danger'."

"Alice? The leeches are back?" he asked, appearing more irate by the second.

"Ummm, if you mean the Cullens, then yeah."

"Dammit. I need to take you back right now."

"What? Why?"

"Because they will hunt me down if they find out I have you with me. Not that I couldn't handle them, but it'll just make more trouble."

"Jake, are you serious? It's not that big of a deal."

"You have no idea, Ness," he said, turning the car around in a quick U-turn.

"No!" I said, grabbing the wheel and turning it back. "I'm not going back there, and I'm sick of everyone trying to force me to go back!" He grabbed hold of the wheel again, but to my surprise, didn't turn back around.

"What's the problem? Why won't you go back?" I had actually been so caught up in finding Claire and seeing Jake, that I forgot why I ran away in the first place. But I remembered now, and I couldn't be more pissed.

"_You_!" I screamed, punching his arm with as much force as possible. "You never told me... the _whole_ time, you never told me!"

"Told you what?"

"You had sex, Jacob! With my _mom_! You told me you were..."

"I am, Ness! What are you talking about?"

"I heard all about it from Alice. You lied to me."

"Ness, I never did anything like that. I could barely get your mom to kiss me." My jaw dropped open and I slapped him across the face, not feeling the least bit sorry. But I _was_ sorry that it hurt the palm of my hand so much. It had turned a bright shade of red.

"You're a pig, and a liar, and an asshole, and I hope I never have to look at you or hear another lie come out of your mouth again! You _knew _how important that was to me!" He rubbed his cheek, looking very confused. It was a shame that I couldn't even hurt him, not even a little.

"Ness, you need to calm down." I reached for the door handle, but he locked the door. His side of the car could lock every door in the car, so I needed to get to it to unlock it. "You can't get out of a moving car, Ness."

"_Then stop the car!"_

"No! Ness, we need to talk about this!"

"I don't want to talk to you, idiot! Don't get it? Everyone who I thought loved me turned out to be liars. I can't believe you. You and my mother are perfect for each other. You both have absolutely no morals."

"Ness, I really don't understand." I was really emotional by this point, and tears were falling from my face. Why was everyone so willing to lie to my face? Instead of trying to argue again, I climbed over his lap to unlock the door so I could jump out, but he had still been driving. The car began to swerve left and right as he tried to control the wheel, but that didn't stop me from pressing the unlock button. I crawled to my side of the car and grasped the handle, trying to stay steady as the car continued to swerve.

"Ness, stop! You're gonna kill yourself!" I highly doubted that- there were no cars on the road, and a few scratches wouldn't kill me. In movies when people rolled their way out of moving cars, they usually got up just fine. So I wasn't worried at all.

I threw the door open and dove out, but I could still catch Jake screaming, "Ness, we're right next to a cliff!" A little too late to be mentioning that, don't you think? I felt pebbles and broken pieces of glass pierce my skin as I rolled, and felt myself rolling downward. I halted to a sudden stop as my back hit a boulder, and it took me a moment to recompose myself before I rose to my knees and brushed off dirt and debris form my body.

I looked out in front of me to see that I was on a stone precipice, about a foot from falling over the edge about half a mile into icy waters. I felt my stomach begin to heave; anyone who knew me knew that my biggest fear was heights. And I had never been higher. The smell of my own blood wafted in the air, and I looked down to see a large open cut on my right leg that was pouring blood, along with various small scartches all over my body. As I began to try to hold the wound together, a cool gust of wind hit me like an anvil, and forced me closer to the water, as if it knew I couldn't swim and wanted to see me struggling under the icy waters.

"Ness!" I heard Jacob call from above me, and looked up. I had rolled downhill about twenty feet, and had badly scratched myself up in the process. "Ness!" 

"Leave me alone!" I called back, though I really wanted someone to help me. But as much as I wanted to be up there with him, my pride was too important, for some reason. _I'm sure I can get myself down_, I thought, trying to stay optimistic. I put my hands on the boulder in front of me and stood slowly, trying to avoid looking looking at the waters in front of as soon as I prepared to climb myself back up, I heard and felt something shifting underneath me. I looked down to see two large rocks tumbling down, falling closer to their doom. They finally made a big splash in the water, effectively squashing the thought of risking falling into the water myself. Another rock fell into the water, and once again, the precicpice shifted under my feet.

So here I was, standing on a rock precipice that was crumbling with each breath I took, and I would no doubt fall to my death if I didn't move soon.

This was just the cherry on top of the sundae, wasn't it?

**I'm so sorry if this seemed rushed, you guys. I just wanted to post something soon, because it's been such a **_**loooong**_** time since I updated. I P-R-O-M-I-S-E the next update will be faster! I love all my readers, whether they be new or reading since I started, and I really hope I didn't disappoint, thought I have a feeling I did. Either way, review PLEASE! Gimme some love, guys, I've had a rough month. :)**

**(btw, sethforever, I'll be sure to get that into the next chapter, since Seth wasn't in this one! I won't forget, I love to make my readers happy! :D)**


	22. Chapter 22

**Hi, everyone!**

**I hope no one's mad at me, because I am super happy right now. :D**

**I am an aspiring actress, although I love to write, and a little while ago, I figured I would get started on my career early. Well, last week, I just had a meeting with an agency and they want to represent me. So forgive me, I've been having a lot of meetings with casting directors and people of that nature, and have been super busy! I'm just happy I'll get to live my dream, especially so early in my life. I am truly blessed, and I hope something comes of this. So if I ever get famous or something, you can say you read my story! lol, anyway, enough about my life, on with the storyyy!**

**P.S. Pinky, we just got your drum set in, girl! I hope you still got the skills, it's been so long! ;)**

Two days later

Bree's POV

"Diego, stop," I giggled as he left a light trail of kisses from my temple to my neck. "You know there's no privacy here. Somone could come in."

"I don't care anymore," he said, almost growling. "I'm tired of having to sneak out just to be with you."

"Well, I don't mind sneaking out. Its much more romantic than... this."

To tell the truth, anywhere else in the house would be better than this. For once, Victoria had actually picked a nice safe house. We were in a very secluded part of Seattle, in a gorgeous huge mansion on a hill that was so big and fancy, it looked like a celebrity's. It was no doubt impressive- and the people who lived were just as impressive. Their blood even _tasted_ rich.

It was also nearly impossible for anyone to find it. It had more than ten bedrooms (though we had no use for them), a pool, and a pretty spiraling staircase. It was like the princess castle I used to dream of having when I was a little girl- except I didn't imagine seventy-three other vampires would be sharing with me. But we had plenty of room and lots of things to occupy us all. For once, we didn't have any deaths because there was so much to do. The house had an arcade, a computer room, TVs in every room, unlimited DVDs, and a big sparkling pool. And we didn't even have to leave to eat. A quick call to the maid service or the exterminator and we were full for up to a week. It was literally difficult to get bored in that big house.

Hopefully we would find another home like this once it was time to pay the bills and all the water and electricity went out. We, of course, never legally owned the homes we liberated- but we were tired of living in abandoned warehouses and old parking garages. Besides, Victoria said we deserved a little fun for a while for all our hard work, training, and terrible living conditions. Not that she cared at all, but she couldn't afford to let anyone turn on her at this point.

But that worked for me. We were living large, and it was great. Diego and I were the only ones actually being productive these past couple weeks, bringing Victoria valuable information that could help her, while everyone else did canonballs in the pool and played Pac Man in the arcade. We were the only ones who deserved this wonderful treat, and we confronted Victoria about it yesterday after we brought Claire to her.

_"It's not fair at all," I said with my arms crossed, sounding very childish. "We've been doing all the work here, Victoria. We haven't been given one break, and never have any time for ourselves."_

_"Everyone else just sits around while we're busting our asses," Diego piped in. "And we want-"_

_"Relax, pretty boy," she said with a lazy yawn, cuddling closer to Riley in their master bedroom (which really only had one use). "I know how helpful you've been to me. I was actually gonna call you up here to thank you for everything."_

_"A thank you's not enough," I countered. A few years ago, I would've never imagined we'd be talking to Victoria like this. But we had come to an understanding with Victoria, and she didn't treat us like we were stupid like she did the others. So we knew she understood why we were so upset._

_"Of course not, sweetie. There are some other perks for you two. Let those crazy banshees have their fun downstairs, guys. Most of 'em will be dead after this is all over anyway."_

_"You don't think they can survive?"_

_She rolled her eyes. "Psssht, of course not. They're just a formality. They'll be a nice distraction for the wolves while I get to my targets."_

_"And you're telling us this... why?" I asked._

_"Are you implying that I can't trust you? 'Cause I'll just kill you now if you are."_

_"No... I mean why are you telling us that we're just gonna end up dead?"_

_"What?" she asked, confused. "Ohhh... you didn't honestly think I'd make you fight after all you've done to help us, did you?"_

_"Well...kinda..."_

_"Don't be stupid. I think its safe to say we're all friends now, right? Friends wouldn't do that." _I beg to differ,_ I said in my head. _Friends my ass._ But I just smiled and nodded._

_"Thanks, Victoria."_

_"No problem. Now, go have fun or something. You brought me the blonde kid, and that's more than what I should be asking from you." I grabbed Diego's hand and gave a squeeze._

_"Who said Vicky couldn't be a nice person? Enjoy, lovebirds," she said with a wink.  
_

And I'm sure she meant that. I mean, we had a big, beautiful, spacious house with more than enough room. So why were we cooped up in a smelly laundry room on top of the washing machine?

"Diego, can we please go somewhere else? I mean, the dirty underwear on the floor are really turning me off."

"Well, who do you think's gonna try to come in here? We're in a laundry room."

"My point exactly."

"Bree, please. I need you..." I rolled my eyes.

"That puppy dog face isn't gonna work forever, ya know," I said playfully, and yanked him toward me for a kiss. I guess I could endure it. I wouldn't be paying much attention to anything around me anyway. But broke the kiss as soon as we started it when three quick raps sounded at the door.

I sighed in frustration and wanted to shout," Leave us the hell alone!" But Diego covered my mouth.

"Just wait. They'll leave soon." The knocks continued and finally the handle broke off and the door crumbled to pieces. Riley stood there, a feral look on his face.

"Why didn't you answer the door?" he growled.

"'Cause we're kinda busy here, Riley. What do you _want_?" Diego asked irritably.

Riley's expression softened quickly. "I'm supposed to be in the basement. You know, killing the kid. Before she realizes how easily she can break out."

"So? Get it done and leave us alone."

He suddenly looked nervous. "That's the thing. I don't think I can."

"What do you mean, you don't think you can?" I asked, standing and crossing my arms.

His voice grew softer, barely above a whisper. "To tell you the truth, I'm kinda scared of that kid. I mean, did you hear how she was talking to Victoria? If she can do that to the boss, imagine what she'd do to me if I tried to kill her. Plus, she has a pack of wolves backing her up. I have no problem with killing the losers downstairs, but I'm not dealing with a wolf pack."

"Tough," Diego said, in a most uncaring voice. "Now, can you leave?"

"I actually wanted to ask a favor of you guys..."

"_Oh_, no. No, no, no. Victoria wants _you _to do it," I said, turning my back on him. "We're not doing your dirty work."

"Please, guys. That little girl's crazy. She'll murder me if she realizes how much stronger she is than I am."

"Oh, sure. Just throw Bree and Diego under the bus, right?"

"C'mon, guys. She already knows who I am. She could easily send someone after me. She has no idea who you two are."

"Oh, sure, she doesn't know who we are. We're just the strange vampires who dragged her all the way to Seattle after she was bitten and chained her up in a dusty basement. No hard feelings toward us at _all_."

"Love the sarcasm," he said ironically. "Please, you guys. I can't have this over my head."

"And we can?" Diego snapped. I put a hand on his chest and grumbled.

"Fine, whatever. We'll kill the kid. But you owe us, Riley."

"Thanks, Bree!" he said, turning to rush out the door.

"Yeah, yeah, just leave. Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out."

"Why did you do that?" Diego asked after a few minutes, to make sure he was out of vampire earshot.

"What else was I gonna do? You know he'll just keep bothering us if we don't."

"Bree..." he said, almost whining.

"C'mon. If we get it over with now, we'll still have plenty of time before training." He rolled his eyes as I grabbed his firm hand. Even being cold and rock solid, his hands were still warm to me.

...

I opened the basement door slowly, in case she had broken out of the chains and was waiting to pounce on someone. But she was still there, arms and legs bound around the thick chain and a thoughtful expression on her face, as if she were putting together a puzzle in her head.

Diego had decided to stay behind and just wait upstairs for me. He said he didn't want any part of any more of the killing (such a softie), and wanted to be as far away from all of it as possible. So instead of clutching his hand, I had a lighter clenched tightly in my palm.

"Blondie?" I asked, causing her head to whip up. Had she been that deep in thought that she was oblivious to me coming in?

"What do you want?" she asked, with sharp attitude. This girl was fearless.

"Might not wanna talk like that to the person who's supposed to be killing you."

"Screw you. I'll be dead, no matter how you kill me. Just hurry up and get it over with."

"If you say so," I said with a shrug. I flicked the little wheel on the lighter and prepared to toss when she whispered something.

"What was that?" I asked, hesitating.

"Nothing," she said quickly. "Just do it."

"I'd like to know what you said first."

"Just a goodbye, since I didn't get a chance to do it earlier. Why the hell do you care? I'm just a pawn to you anyway."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, flicking the lighter back off.

"What do you think? You just run around killing innocent people and kill them when you're done with what you need them for. You're pretty sick."

"Hold on, Blondie, I don't know who the hell you think you're talking to, but what do you know about me? You think I _like_ doing this? You think I _enjoy_ watching innocent people die like this?"

"Well, you don't seem like you have a problem with it," she said with a shrug. "Believe it or not, I have a life too. I have people who love me, friends, family, a boyfriend. Yet you sit around and let Fire-crotch up there boss you around and tell you to go around and kill people. All you sound like is a weak person who can't make her own decisions."

"Look, I _do_ have a problem with this. A huge problem with it. But I'm a totally free person. I make all my own decisions. I do whatever the hell I want."

"So you _don't _have a problem with killing people..."

"Well-" I was about to reply to her snappy comment with an even snappier comment, when I realized she was right. What were we _doing_ here taking orders from Victoria? And why were we so willing to do something we didn't believe in when we had so many chances to leave?

"Well, whatever. Who am I to tell you what kind of person you are? I mean, I'm just a pawn, after all. Go ahead and get your little lighter out. I'm done." But I hardly heard her. Diego and I were so busy claiming what monsters Riley and Victoria were, that we didn't even realize we were monsters ourselves.

Claire had done nothing at all. In all of this huge mess, Claire was completely innocent. So how did she end up a vampire chained up in our basement? In Victoria's plan to get revenge on Bella, we had killed hundreds of people to be our minions, killed Claire's older brother (indirectly), and ruined the lives of so many people. And why the hell were we doing it?

"May I ask one more thing, though?" Claire asked, with a wierd politeness. "Are they going to hurt Renesmee?" I looked into her pure red eyes with guilt.

"Well-" I started, but she gulped and shook her head, as if she already knew the answer.

"What's your name?" she asked softly.

"Bree," I answered.

"Bree, I don't know what's going on, but Victoria said that some war was going to happen or something. Whatever's going on, I'm _begging_ you, please don't let anything happen to her. I don't care if you kill me, but I know you were human once and have a heart somewhere in your body. _Please_, Bree. Don't let them hurt her." Her red eyes blinked up at me with a sadness that was undenianbly genuine. She still loved Nessie, and it was quite apparent that it was from the bottom of her heart.

"Claire-" I sighed, but she interrupted quickly.

"_Promise_ me, Bree. Before you kill me, promise me you won't let anything happen to her." I bit my lip and turned my back to her, feeling extremely conflicted. I couldn't do this anymore. I couldn't kill this girl. I couldn't kill more people. I couldn't let Victoria reign over me anymore. I couldn't ruin anymore lives.

I was done.

I whipped around and crouched behind Claire, grasping two sides of the chains and yanking until they snapped. I did the same with the ones bound around her ankles.

"What are you doing?" she asked in confusion.

"Quitting," I said simply, and crushed the chains to dust. I left the dust of the chain scattered on the ground. "You do realize you could've broken out of those the whole time, right?"

She looked at the dust and her eyebrows crinkled. "I knew that," she insisted.

"Sure," I said with an eye roll. "You're indestructible, Blondie. The only thing that can kill you is this right here." I lifted up the lighter and shook it in her face. "Look, I'm not gonna let anyone hurt Renesmee. Or you."

"Promise?"

"...Yes. I promise. There's a lot going on right now, Claire. If I could, I would let you leave right now. But it's not that easy. Someone's gonna end up dead in the end, and ourr only objective is to make sure it's not us. Got it?"

She nodded uncertainly, still looking confused. "Yeah...but I still don't get it."

I nodded. "I know. I'll explain everything when I get back. But I have to go, and you have to stay down here. I promise I'll come back."

"Oh, okay..." I walked to the door and before I closed it, I asked her one more thing.

"Hey, Blondie...what was that you called Victoria?"

She looked confused for a while, then suddenly remembered. "Fire-crotch?"

"Fire-crotch," I repeated in awe. "I like it." I gave her a congratulatory smile and winked at her. "Nice."

"Thanks," she said, returning the smile. I closed the door and hoped I could keep the promise I had made.

...

3rd POV

Analeesa scratched at her face with her paw, hoping she could manage to keep her eyes open long enough. She had been walking all day and all night. Two days had passed and she had only gotten a couple hours of sleep. The day before she had lost the scent and had no idea what to do or where she was. Heavy rain drops splashed to the ground as she trudged on through the unknown land. She was completely lost.

But Ana, being a little trooper, kept her tiny black nose glued to the ground as she searched for Nessie's scent. But the rain had washed most of the trails she had away. After a while, when she realized it would be nearly impossible to find her now that she lost the scent, she tried searching for any familiar scent at al, any smell that she may have inhaled before. Her little nose was all she had to rely on, and it couldn't fail her.

And her new plan had worked. She soon caught a slightly familiar scent, a smell that always happened to linger on Nessie and Claire when they returned home. She had no idea whose scent it was, but it had to be someone Nessie knew if she always had the scent on her.

So she trotted along, following the new trail and ignoring the growling in her stomach. Food was the last thing she was worried about if her best friend was missing, and possibly in danger. But a green sign stopped her as she tried to decipher what it said.

Seattle.

She was smart, but she was no doggie Einstein. She had no idea how to read, and she wondered if she had gone too far.

A sudden delicious scent wafted by her nose and made her stomach grumble again. She looked around to see where the smell was coming from and her eyes locked on a red car that was approaching quickly. She had no idea what or who was in the car, but the scent was driving her crazy. Her tail wagged in anticipation and anxiety as the car came closer and closer. She had to do something.

Without hesitation, she ran to a discarded bottle that rested on a bed of weeds, grabbing the bottle nose with her teeth and running out to the middle of the street. She put the bottle down, then picked it up again and put it down a few inches away. She knew that if the tire didn't run directly over the bottle, she'd miss her chance. She took another look at the approaching car, one more glance at the bottle, and ran behind a weed.

The car finally reached her, blowing her fur in her face. She listened carefully and her tail steadily wagged again when she heard the shatter. The sound of the engine cutting off and a door opening was heard, and Ana decided that it was the perfect time to go. She sprinted from behind the weed and hopped into the open car as a young- looking guy- maybe eighteen or so- stomped his feet on the ground and bent down to examine the car. The boy wore a red outfit tucked into black pants and a hat- it looked like a uniform. She sniffed around and finally found her destination- a large, square pizza box.

She quickly ran to the backseat and opened the box with her nose after much struggle. She quickly gobbled down as much as she could, which wasn't much- she was only seven pounds, after all. After she was full, she prepared to go to the front door of the car to hop out, but the guy had already gotten back in the car and shut the door. The only thing she could do was stay inside.

She cuddled up in his itchy jacket, trying to get as comfortable as possible, before falling into a deep, well-deserved sleep.

A slamming door jolted Ana out of her sleep, and she poked her head up quickly. The teenage pizza boy was carrying the half-empty pizza box to the door of an enormous manor. The familiar scent that she had been smelling before wafted into the open car window and floated near her nose. SHe eagerly sniffed the air to see if she could catch a whiff of Nessie, but she had no luck. But she _did _smell another scent, the scent of her favorite blonde "aunt," which was good enough for her. Ana quickly woke herself up, shook out her fur, and stood at attention, watching intently for the perfect moment.

"I'm so sorry," she heard the teen say to a pale blonde girl standing at the door, one who also looked familiar. "I haveide what happened. I could've sworn there was a whole pizza in-" He was cut off quickly as the girl took a large bite of his neck and began to suck. Ana's heart began to beat quickly as she wondered what to do. She let out a small whine, feeling remorseful for the guy, but stopped quickly. She needed to go.

So she hopped out of the open window and tumbled to the ground, feeling as if every bone in her body had shattered. But she shook it off, and limped to the door as quickly as she could. When the teen began to scream, a horde of pale vampires came running, stomping to the front door. Ana weaved in and out of rock-hard legs, tucking her tail in between her legs and trying to avoid being stepped on.

When all the vampires had made it to the front door and had all their attention on the pizza guy, she stopped for a little while to catch her breath, then put her nose back to work again. She would find Claire if she was here, one way or another.

**Satisfied? *fingers crossed* In anticipation, and to avoid long, irritating waits, I already wrote the next chapter, and it'll be up next week, most likely, maybe two. Keep reading, guys! By the way, what's up with this reviewing thing? I go from 16 reviews to 6? :( C'mon, guys, that's not cool. Can we get to at least ten more for this chappy? *hopeful puppy dog eyes***

**Did I do good? Tell me in the form of a lovely review. :)**


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